UGC Chairman playing politics – Tissa Attanayake

January 11, 2012, 10:10 pm , The Island.

by Zacki Jabbar

The Chairman of the University Grants Commission had claimed that undergraduates were playing politics, but it was he who was dancing to the government’s tune, the UNP said yesterday.

General Secretary of the UNP, Tissa Attanayake MP, told a news conference in Colombo, that university students had the right to engage in political activity and no one could deny them that.

It, was ironic to hear the UGC Chairman accusing undergraduates of politicking, when his institution was being run according to the dictates of the Rajapaksa regime and not in terms of the UGC Act, he said adding that "political puppets living in glass houses should not throw stones at others."

Commenting on the UNP and its internal squabbles, Attanayake said that there has to be unity for the party to progress.

He, said that if the UNP was to form the next government, all members should set aside their differences, forget their losses and work with commitment, without undermining the leadership.

In an obvious reference to Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa’s claim, that he could independently recruit 100,000 new members, Attanayake said membership drives were most welcome, but all programmes should be implemented in consultation with the decision making bodies and organisers of the respective electorates.

"We are in the process of re-vamping the UNP, reorganising branches, filling vacancies that exist for electoral organisers etc", he said while observing that members and especially office bearers should work as a team and not independently of the party machinery.