A meeting in this regard, to rally a destructive media pattern, was held at Abhayarama Temple in Narahenpita, chaired by Rajapaksa, it says.

The meeting was attended by casino businessman Ravi Wijeratne, Ruwan Ferdinandis, Bandula Padmakumara, Janaka Priyantha Bandara, Tiran Alles, Manusha Nanayakkara, Thushara Gunaratne and Rohan Weliwita, says the website.

At the end of the meeting, Alles and Ferdinandis had an exchange of words over the naming of the new newspaper.

When 'Sri Lanka Mirror' made inquiries from Ferdinandis, who is also a consultant to SLM, he said he got to know about such a meeting only through the LeN report.

He said that a group including himself launched a newspaper called ‘Nijabima’ against the then UNP government in 2001-02, adding that he had no intention of launching a newspaper by that name.

He said however, a new newspaper with a novel outlook will be launched on June 21 with contributions coming from Dipthi Kumara Gunaratne, Subhash Jayawardena, Wimal Ketipearachchi, Prabhath Weeraratne, Gunasiri Silva, Himashi Karunaratne, Daya Nettasinghe, Shalika Wimalasena and Jayasiri Alawatte.

Ferdinandis added that persons who were friends in the past have become agitated after hearing about the launch of this newspaper.