KAMAL WAS SCRAPPED BECAUSE OF DUNESH
An incident where popular film star Kamal Addaraarachchi who was aspiring to contest for
the General Election from the UNP was later not given nominations was reported.Earlier at the beginning he had expressed his ideas to the media saying that he would be contesting either from Gampaha or Ratnapura. Later on he had said that he would be contesting only from Ratnapura. However, when nominations were being finalised his name has been scrapped off. Nobody had revealed the reason for this. At a time like this when faith has been pinned on the advantage of securing votes from popular actors and actresses, why didn't political parties take advantage from someone like Kamal?
According to what has been reported to us is, the reason is of a young MP who had disliked those coming from outside. He is none other than Dunesh Gankanda, contesting for the UNP from Ratnapura. Though it was initially discussed by UNP leaders to employ Kamal to contest from Gampaha, since Ranjan is contesting from Gampaha he will be able to acquire votes cast for actors by his fans, it had been decided that using Kamal would be in vain. Later he had been pushed to Ratnapura. But if Kamal was to come to Ratnapura many have protested against UNP leadership about the loss of preferential votes for him. Dunesh Gankanda became a priority in that instance. Dunesh had argued, "I have no personal issue with Kamal; but there are those who worked for the Party at difficult times. If someone from outside is brought in here, it would be a big injustice to them". UNP leaders have consented to his argument. As such, Kamal's nomination request has decisively been scrapped off.
Kamal who even summoned a media briefing with the hope of contesting has had to finally give up his dream.