Nandana Gunathilake to leave JVP

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna parliamentarian and former politburo member Nandana Gunathilake who was constantly in the headlines over the past few weeks has decided to resign from the party.

It is reported that his letter of resignation has already been drafted and will be handed over to the party General Secretary Tylvin Silva within the next couple of days. However he will not step down from his parliamentary seat.

Earlier Gunathilake, a former presidential candidate of the party was removed from the party`s politburo. According to internal JVP sources he has cited that the JVP�s politics would not contribute the progress of the country and has alleged that the party is engaged in an opportunistic politics on the needs of Weerawansa and Somawansa without adopting a policy-based political program, as reasons for his resignation.

After the 88-89 brutal crackdown of the JVP, he was instrumental in rebuilding the party without fleeing the country and became the party`s presidential candidate at the 1999 presidential election.

Earlier JVP`s Gampaha district parliamentarian Siripala Amarasinghe, who was an older member than even Gunathilake, resigned his parliamentary seat as well as party membership.

The reason for their decision to leave the party is Somawansa-Weerawansa, Vijitha Herath clan`s opportunistic policies, running the party as yet another capitalist party filled with lies and duplicity without any Marxist, radical dynamism and for adopting an extreme racist stand on the national problem. They have exerted pressure on the party leadership to initiate an immediate dialogue with the LTTE leadership.

A powerful faction of the JVP headed by Gunathilake which includes several parliamentarians shares this view and one of the elusive yet influential members of the party, its Internal Secretary `Kumar`- a Tamil- is also in this faction