United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday strongly criticised President Chandrika Kumaratunga for portraying the UNP and the LTTE as an alliance in order to stop the Sinhalese from voting for the UNP.
He also accused her of using the state media to slur his name to win elections. In a letter to Mrs Kumaratunga, the UNP leader asked why she had included Mr Varatharaja Perumal, a former chief minister and the person who had attempted to have actually declared a separate state of Eelam, in her ruling People's Alliance (PA) national list.
''It makes a mockery of your commitment to a united Sri Lanka,'' he said and challenged her to have debate with him on the issue on television.
Regarding her statement that the Opposition leader had prior knowledge of the attempt on her life in the last presidential election, he said, ''It is the figment of her deranged imagination.''
He challenged her either to tell the police about the substance of her accusations or shut up. Mr Wickremesinghe said that if the president had been killed in the campaign, he would not have had benefitted as her successor would have been chosen from within the PA. ''Perhaps, you should be looking among your own supporters for potential culprits especially since the suicide bomber managed to get into your meeting despite the tightest security,'' he added.

Bureau Report