President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that one cup of coffee with United National Party Leader (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe will be enough to make him cross over to the government.

The President also added that he only had one cup of tea with former UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake before he crossed over to the government. He said the government did not throw dollars at Parliamentarians of the opposition to get their support to the government.

“They took our General Secretary, so we took theirs’, it is not a big thing to get one from the opposition for each and every one wholeaves. One cup of coffee with me and even Ranil will end up on our side”, the President said in Anuradhapura when he aaddressed his first election rally of the campaign.

However, President flatly denied all the rumors that Tissa Attanayake was ‘bought’ by the ruling party with the promise of the Health Ministry, which Attanayake took over officially after taking oaths as the new Minister of Health at the President’s Residence in Kandy yesterday (12).

He also added the opposition playing mind-tricks on the people by talking about crossovers. “Maybe they are getting some satisfaction out of it; But nothing will make an impact,” the President said. 

A crowd of over 100 000 attended the President’s inaugural rally and several key Ministers of the UPFA attended the event