In a video shared through the media in recent days, it appears that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has decided to join forces with Ranil Wickremesinghe and the United National Party and cooperate with them. Has he really made such a decision at this moment?
Facts about that is below.
Social media posts
A video of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa’s statement was spread on WhatsApp as follows. The video shows that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has decided to work unitedly with President Ranil for a new political journey.
Photographs using the frames of the video were also shared on social media including Facebook, which meant that Sajith Premadasa had recently made a statement about this kind of alliance.
Due to this, we decided to investigate the circumstances and background of this comment by the opposition leader.
Fact Check
The first thing we inquired about was whether the leader of the opposition, Sajith Premadasa, had made such a statement recently. A check through his official social media as well as mainstream media confirmed that no such statement has been made recently.
February 2020, part of a comment containing an invitation by Sajith to attend the inauguration of SJB, a misleading post!
Then we looked into the beginning of this video through Invid-We Verify. There we saw that this was a part of a statement made by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa a few months before the 2020 general elections, when the Samagi Jana Balawegayaya party was formed, that is, a part of a statement made during a press conference in February 2020, exchanged with a misleading interpretation as a recent statement. that there is The video that was broadcast on ‘Ada Derana’ on February 26, 2020 is here
Mr. Sajith Premadasa says at that time that Ranil Wickramasinghe will also invite the UNP leader at the time to come to the inaugural event of Samagi Jana Balawegaya to be held on March 2, 2020 at Nelum Pokuna. In addition to that, any group that puts the motherland first, is patriotic, patriotic, preserves the unity of the country, removes racism and religious discrimination, rejects racism and religiousism, and preserves the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of the country is invited to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Sajith had said.
The full video, including the moment when Mr. Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition, gave answers to the questions raised by journalists in a special press conference on February 26, 2020, was posted on Sajith Premadasa’s official YouTube channel.
Office of the Leader of the Opposition
The opposition media secretary said that the media secretary of the opposition said that it is a part of a video that is more than 3 years old, which is being shared on social media in a misleading way, and that the rumors that Samagi Jana Balawegaya is going to merge with the United National Party/Government are not true.
Also, we inquired about the opinion of the opposition leader Sajith regarding the demands being exchanged to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya to the government. Sajith Premadasa, who is issuing a special announcement regarding these campaigns, says that his party is not ready to unite with the existing government at this moment and condemns such fake news creations by the government with contempt. The full press release issued by the Leader of the Opposition is below.
