Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he was disheartened to see senior SLFP members being removed from electoral organizer positions of the party.
"The party which I handed over to a new leader, in January, 2015, was an undivided one," former President Rajapaksa said, in a statement today.
"I did not want to retain the party leadership as I wanted the party to remain united," Rajapaksa said in his statement.
The former President said the current leadership of the party was removing highly popular leaders from their electoral organizer posts and added it paved the way for the UNP's victory at future elections.
"A number of highly popular MPs, who struggled to uphold the core principles of the party, lost their electoral organizer posts in the recent past," he added.
"The removal of Janaka Bandara Tennakoon,," he added, "is merely one example. The party failed to appreciate the service he rendered to the Matale district.:
Rajapaksa said this set the platform for the Joint Opposition's May Day rally at the Galle Face Green, adding that a massive crowd would participate in the group's May Day event.
