UNP MP Palitha Range Bandara today claimed that it was due to a “part-time” leadership that the United National Party has remained in the opposition for the past 19 years.

Referring to a statement made by UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe in Kandy yesterday that he needs people who can work for the party “full-time” and not part-time or half-time, the Puttlam District Parliamentarian stated that it was due to the current short-time, part-time and half-time leadership that the UNP has been damned for 19 years.

“If we had a full-time leader we wouldn’t have been in the opposition for 19 years,” he said.

Back in the day D.S. Senanayake founded this party as a democratic political party, J.R. Jayawardene made it a democratic socialist party and then in the Ranil Wickramasinghe era it was termed a new liberal party, Range Bandara said addressing a function in Kurunegala today.

He stated that at the party’s annual convention in December last year the UNP leader turned it into a radical party and that now Wickramasinghe is saying it’s an “innocent guerilla party.”

“Where in the world do you find a kind called innocent guerilla?” he asked.

Palitha Range Bandara stated that guerillas are armed forces that destroy everything in their path and claimed that Ranil Wickramasinghe does not know “guerilla” or “gorilla”.

He urged the Opposition Leader to refrain from speaking on things he doesn’t know.