Sujatha says she never went missing

Adding more ingredients to the uncertainty within the JVP, one of its parliamentarian’s yesterday denied media reports that she was being held forcibly and insisted that she stayed at a friend’s house overnight and was unable to contact her driver which led to the confusion.
Addressing a news conference in Colombo, JVP Parliamentarian Sujatha Alahakoon said she was duped by the dissidents to join them and there was no truth in media reports that she had disappeared.
She claimed she was unaware about a split within the party following a statement made in Parliament by Wimal Weerawansa until she came to the Nippon Hotel media briefing on Tuesday.
“We were all shocked at Mr. Weerawansa’s statement in Parliament on Tuesday. Nobody knew anything about the statement before it was made. In fact we later wanted to mend fences and I thought the MPs who accompanied me were going to announce that the matter had been amicably settled,” she said.
The dissident group went to the headquarters of the Patriotic National Movement instead of the party office at Pelawatta. There, they were lectured by Senarathna De Silva, a former party stalwart and Politburo member who had been sacked later. At the news conference she wanted to reach a compromise, she said.
Commenting on media reports about her alleged disappearance she said she could not contact her driver on Tuesday as she stayed over night at a friend’s house. She said she went to her residence at Matale the following day to take the flak of her husband and relatives who were worried about her safety.
Anuradhapura district Parliamentarian Ranaweera Pathirana who left Tuesday’s media briefing under police protection after attempting to disrupt it said there was a conspiracy against the JVP.
However the intention of the party leadership was to resolve the crisis amicably with the least damage to the party, she said.
Asked about the attacks on a number of dissident MPs he said he did not know about any attack on any of them. Mr. Pathirana declined to condemn the attack on his fellow Parliamentarians and maintained that party loyalists who voted for the JVP would have been very angry about those who defected.
On the robbery of vehicles of certain members he said there were no private vehicles or private income for JVP members as all vehicles belong to the party and members depend on funds provided by the party.