In an interesting revelation, MP Navin Dissanayake, who joined the opposition yesterday, said he was offered 100 million to stay in the Government.

“The government cannot buy me over, I had already made a promise to Maithripala Siresena and I acted on that,” Dissanayake said addressing a press conference in Colombo. Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena and UNP National leader Ranil Wickremesinghe sat alongside the former Minister who sent his letter of resignation to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday.

“The government is looting funds received from China for road development. We need a country that is free of corruption,” Dissanayake said saying he could not speak about the corruption on the part of the government when he was a Cabinet Minister. This was the second press conference Dissanayake addressed after his defection from the government.

“Maithripala and Ranil Wickremesinghe were clean politicians and they were never accused of corruption,” Dissanayake added.

It was Maithripala Sirisena who acted as Minister of Defence when the President was abroad during the final phase of war and he would never act as a puppet of the Western world,” the former Minister said responding to the allegations that have been leveled against the common candidate by the government. 

He also stated that India and the US assisted Sri Lanka in eradicating terrorism and they had no reason to conspire against the country.

Commenting on Navin Dissanayake’s move, the common candidate said, Dissanayake’s father, the late Gamini Dissanayake, was a leader whom he always admired.

“Navin Dissanayake is a great strength to the common opposition,” Maithripala Sirisena said.

When asked about his symbol for the presidential election, the common candidate told journalists that the symbol of his party would be revealed shortly.