Former MP Nandana Gunathilaka says that he lives on the pension he received as an MP and has no other income.
He has posted on his social media account about the current government’s decision to abolish the pension of MPs and said that he is ready to commit suicide against the move.
He says that he was involved in politics full-time and that he abandoned his university degree and became a guerrilla fighter for the party. He says that while a limited group including himself devoted themselves to building the JVP with great difficulty, the current leaders completed their university education and obtained their degrees. He says that the current JVP Secretary, Tilvin Silva, was in prison during the terror era and that a limited group including himself were continuously on the battlefield.
He says that about 200 retired MPs are living on pensions and that if the current pensions are abolished, all of them will have to die like beggars. Accordingly, he says that he will kill and die for his pension.
Nandana Gunathilaka, who represented the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna as a Member of Parliament, also contested the 1999 Presidential Election as a candidate. Nandana Gunathilaka later joined the United National Party and held the post of Mayor of Panadura.