The leader of the Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party is visiting Jaffna today to campaign for presidential candidate of the common opposition General Sarath Fonseka at the upcoming presidential polls.
During his two-day visit to the peninsula, Wickremasinghe will hold a series of campaign rallies. He is also expected to meet the religious and political leaders in Jaffna in a bid to garner support from the Jaffna Tamil community.
This is the first visit by a senior opposition political leader to the peninsula since the end of the war between the government troops and the LTTE in May 2009.
Leaders of several opposition alliance parties including Mano Ganesan of the one-man party Democratic Peoples' Front accompanied the opposition leader.
The opposition alliance United National Front is supporting the presidential candidate, the former commander of the Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka against the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The opposition suffered a heavy blow when the UNP strongman and national organizer S.B. Dissanayake recently crossed over to the Ruling United people's Freedom Alliance and declared his support to the President.
Some of the prominent UNP members including Dissanayake, Ajith Premadasa, Johnston Fernando and former deputy mayor of Colombo Azath Salley are against the Wickremasinghe's stand to support General Fonseka instead of fielding the party's own candidate.
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