ColomboPage.com yesterday contacted Sri Lankan presidential candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and asked him for his response to recent allegations by the Opposition UNP. We appreciate the time the Prime Minister took to speak with us without any previous appointment.

In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Secretary, Mr. Weeratunga, the UNP Assistant Secretary had said: “The United National Party has noted with dismay the abuse of public funds by the Prime Minister in using his official residence, 'Temple Trees', for political purposes. This is abuse not only of public funds, but of public property….”

Q1). Can you explain why the UNP thinks these are “public funds”?

A1). “This is not a small question. Before I answer that, let me explain what they are referring to. In the past few weeks, thousands of Sri Lankans came from all over the country to see me and wish me good luck in the upcoming presidential election. I opened the gate of 'Temple Trees' to the public, which never happened in Sri Lankan history. The UNP said this is public property, so why can the public not come to it? On the other hand, this is the place I live now and anybody in Sri Lanka is welcome to my house, including Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe.

“Secondly, as far as I can remember, my family has provided food to any person who came to my house at lunch time. I cannot ask them to wait while I go inside the house and have lunch. That is the way we do things in our home, but unfortunately that is not the way things are done in Colombo 7. Yes, that costs money to give food to thousands of people. But that cost was taken care of from our campaign and not from public funds.

“On Sept. 29th in particular, I welcomed thousands of SLFP representatives – women who had come from throughout the country including more than 500 Tamil women. Remember that only one year ago, if even one Tamil woman passed by ‘Temple Trees’, she would have been arrested as a security threat. This is how things have changed.”

Q2). Readers on ColomboPage have expressed their opinions on “how the SLFP party is treating its own candidate”. Also, some viewers say there is a “Chandrika – Ranil dialogue”. What can you say about this?

A2). “My father was the first person to follow the late Prime Minister and founder of the SLFP, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, when he crossed over to the Opposition in 1951. I have a very close connection to the SLFP and have always respected the Bandaranaike family. Later, I worked with the late Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike. I have day-to-day contact with our President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

I do my part honorably and respectably without listening to all the election propaganda by others. Any politician can make ‘very sweet talk’ before the election. I encourage all of you to ignore all election gossip and be patient like me.”

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