Minister Rajitha Senaratne has said the president has decided not to name Rajapaksa as the SLFP or the UPFA prime ministerial candidate, but the president is yet to make any comment regarding that.

The president’s media unit said yesterday that Rajapaksa had not been announced as the SLFP prime ministerial candidate, but didn’t say that he would not be given nominations.

In this context, civil society organizations and several parties, including the JHU and several SLFPers have asked ex-president Kumaratunga to pressurize president Sirisena against giving nominations to Rajapaksa.

She is already at talks with the UNP and other political parties and organizations on what action should be taken if Rajapaksa is given nominations from the UPFA.

It was ex-president Kumaratunga who had mediated to unite the UNP and the SLFP to defeat Rajapaksa and also proposed Maithripala Sirisena as the common opposition candidate