JVP National List MP Bimal Rathnayake today denied that the party had any role in the 'arrest' and deportation of Kumar Gunaratnam in 2012, despite former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's claim.

Responding to a question raised at a press conference, Rathnayake asked why the former Defence Secretary had not said this in 2012.

This is a part of a systematic program to tarnish the image of the JVP at a time when the JVP is questioning the misdeeds of the former and present governments, Rathnayaka argued.

He said that the anti-JVP elements are uniting in an all out attack on the JVP.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa had told a weekend newspaper that the present JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake repeatedly urged him to arrest Gunaratnam.