MR was paid by JR to divide SLFP

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's then deputy leader Maithripala Senanayake, his wife and Mahinda Rajapaksa were paid by J.R. Jayawardena to divide the SLFP. At an event in Gampaha, she said she had ample proof to support her allegations. “I have the receipts to prove these transactions took place. Rajapaksa was paid Rs.35,000 on a monthly basis. Rajapaksa is trying to destroy the party today in a similar manner that he was paid to do years ago,” Ms. Kumaratunga said. She claimed that when President Jayawardena’s move to destroy the SLFP by depriving former prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike of her civic rights failed in 1980, the then president had opted to bribe both Rajapaksa and Senanyake to divide the party. “The job for the payments made from 1980 until we came to power was to destroy the SLFP and chase Sirimavo away,” Ms. Kumaratunga said.