Former minister Patali Champika Ranawaka today apologized to the nation for the “political mistakes” made by them in the past.

“We made a mistake. We have to apologize to the people for that,” he told reporters in Kandy today (25).

The UNP MP claimed that when the General Election was held in 2004, which the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won, the ruling party managed to get a majority due to the 9 Buddhist monks from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).

He said that at that time the main partners of the UPFA had decided on appointing Lakshman Kadirgamar as the Prime Minister, however the Buddhist monks and members of the JHU had called for the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa to that position.

He said that they even requested former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to name Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.

“We apologize to the nation for that,” Ranawaka said.

He also apologized to the people of the country for calling and expediting the presidential election in 2005 and for working for the UPFA’s victory at that election along with the JVP.

Ranawaka stated that despite some of their Buddhist monks supporting Ranil Wickremesinghe, they the JHU held a national convention to pledge support to Mahinda Rajapaksa and decided to actively work to elect him as the President.

He said that Rajapaksa became President because of their dedication. “We also apologize to the people for that too.” 

“These are the political mistakes that we made.”