All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) leader Rishad Bathiudeen, a former minister, has said his party is a partner in its alliance with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and not subordinate to it, and warned Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa against abandoning the principles on which the alliance was built.
“We are not slaves of the SJB. The SJB is a political party, and we are partners in that alliance,” Bathiudeen said on Monday.
He said the ACMC had worked to support Premadasa in two presidential elections, and that its supporters had spent millions of rupees and campaigned day and night. “We brought together the votes of our people and contributed them to the alliance,” he said.
Bathiudeen said National List appointments, parliamentary positions and ministerial portfolios had been allocated on the basis of agreements between the two parties. He said he was concerned that the SJB appeared to be moving away from the position it held during the presidential election.
“I am saddened by their current approach,” Bathiudeen said. He said he had telephoned Premadasa personally to share his concerns and had told him that “we stood with him because of his policies and principles”, adding that Premadasa should not compromise those principles even if there were political setbacks.
Bathiudeen also referred to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP). He said the ruling party’s electoral success showed the importance of public confidence in political principles, and that voters had backed the NPP because they believed its stated opposition to racism and religious extremism and its promise of systemic change.
He said the country’s history showed that ethnic and religious extremism was not good for Sri Lanka, its communities or future generations.
Background
The ACMC formally backed Premadasa’s presidential candidacy in August 2024, when it signed an agreement with the SJB-led alliance. Premadasa, who leads the SJB, is the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Alliance agreements of this kind in Sri Lanka usually set out how parties share candidates, National List seats and positions in any government formed. The National List is the set of seats in the 225-member Parliament that parties fill by nomination, based on the share of the national vote they win, rather than through election in a particular district.
Bathiudeen has served as a minister in earlier governments and leads one of the main Muslim-based parties in Parliament. His remarks come as opposition parties continue to position themselves against the NPP government, which took office after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
What it means
The comments show that the ACMC is publicly questioning the direction of its alliance with the SJB. No decision on the future of the arrangement has been announced.
For voters, particularly those in the Muslim and Tamil-speaking communities who have supported the ACMC, the way the opposition parties work together will shape the choices on offer at future elections. Any change to the alliance would be announced by the parties themselves.
