A press conference organized by UPFA Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila to be held yesterday (30th) had to be delayed by 1 ¼ hours as Parliamentarians from UPFA and SLFP had decided to boycott it.
Only Mr. Gammanpila had been present at the time the media briefing was scheduled to start and he has said the media briefing was arranged as journalists had complained that there was a dearth of news. He said the holding the news briefing got delayed as Parliamentarian Dallas Alahapperuma who was to attend got suddenly sick.
He also said other Parliamentarians could not attend the briefing as they were away from Colombo during the holidays.
However, political analysts say Mahinda faction that boasts there are 58 Parliamentarians with them has fallen down to the level that they could not find a few MPs to hold a media briefing.
They also point out that the MPs representing Mahinda faction do not have their own independent views and they have fallen down to the state that they hold media briefing to satisfy media institutions’ quest for news.
Finally Mr. Gammanpila commenced the briefing when journalists asked him to hold it by himself and while the briefing was being held Parliamentarian Prasanna Ranaweera joined him.
What is unusual is the non participation of stalwarts of the Mahinda faction such as Gamini Lokuge, Vasudeva nanayakkara, Prasanna Ranatunga, Wimal Weerawansa, Bandula Gunawardene, Rohitha Abeygunawardene, Namal Rajapaksa, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Premalal Jayasekera, Sanath Nishantha, Johnston Fernando at the briefing.
