President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday addressing the 55th convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party urged all to unite under his leadership as in the past like during the Presidential elections and extend support for him to solve the problems and bring peace to the country. "It is not relevant as to who brings peace and to what group he or she belongs. We must work as a team" he said.

Leaders of constituent parties Dinesh Gunawardena of the MEP, Dew Gunasekera of the Communists Party, Professor Tissa Vitharana of the LSSP, Vasudeva Nanayakkara of the New Democratic Front, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP, Ven Athureliya Rathana Thero of the JHU, P. M. Podiappuhamy of the DVIP Muththu Sivalingam and R. Yagarajan of the CWC, Douglas Devananda of the EPDP and Minister Rishard Badurdeen were present along with other distinguished invitees.

Following is the full text of the president’s speech:

"I would like to pay my respects to you all at this crucial juncture in the course of our historical forward march. I came to your midst not only as the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party but also as a member who had contributed a lot to defend the party.

"When this party was inaugurated in 1951 by our late leaders S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, my father too contributed immensely towards promoting it. Today it is with humble pride that I recollect the contribution my father made. It was that historical event which led me to lead this party and build my political career. When the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was inaugurated in 1951, I was a student in Grade one. I consider it a personal victory on my part to be at the helm of it today.

"The honour of my victory goes on to you all. I should not stress the policy formulated and adopted during the last 55 years under the leadership of the late leaders S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. We are well aware of the difficulties and challenges faced by those leaders. In this connection our immense respect goes to the late Madam Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike who gave leadership and protected the party against multiple challenges such as the assassination of her beloved husband and our founder leader, stripped of her civic rights and the challenges of various breakaway groups who tried to dissolve the party.

"From the very inception of the party we drew our strength from rural areas. It was this rural base that brought about our victory in 1956 as well as in November 2006. Not that we did not have difficult periods in the course of our forward march during the past but we were able to extricate ourselves from such difficulties valiantly. So let us make use of those challenges to correct ourselves in future.

"Sri Lanka Freedom Party is not a mere organization comprising a president, secretary and a treasurer. It is the personification of the people’s will, ambition and hopes. We formulated "Mahinda Chinthanaya" on the eve of the last Presidential Election, based on such sublime principles of the party. Therefore on this historical occasion, I wish to request you to make every effort to safeguard and strengthen the ‘rural base’ which could be considered as the live wire of our party.

"The challenge before us is to organize the party to suit the modern world on the same basis. In doing this we all will have to have a deep sense and understanding of our traditional norms and ethics. The aim of the party should be peace and harmony among all Sri Lankans. We are commemorating this anniversary at a time when the country is facing several challenges.

"On the one hand LTTE terrorists are violently trying to divide our motherland. As a result, the stability of our economy is being challenged. On the other hand we face the challenge of building a new Sri Lanka where the germs of hatred among Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities will be irradiated and love and amity prevail.

Dear friends, we do not bow to challenges. Even today we are not at war with the LTTE. We are only on our defense. Our ambition is to build a new Sri Lanka where we all can live together in peace and harmony as we have done for centuries in the past. We have salvaged Sampur from the grip of the enemy purely for the benefit of the public and that area is presently under the control of government.

"We are keeping our doors open to anybody who is efficient and honest to come to the helm of the party.

"In case of appointing a commander of the army, some of the people were questioning as to what the religion of the person concerned. We are not bothered about caste or creed of a person in considering his capabilities. When I placed this question before the Defence Secretary, he said let us take him. He is capable. That is how we work. All Tamils are not terrorists. For instance let us quote the names of Lakshman Kadirgamar, Ananda Sangari and Douglas Devananda. They were against the terrorists. Are they not Tamils?

"As in the case of last Presidential Election I fervently hope that you will give your blessings in facing this challenges and to bring the country to normalcy. It is not relevant as to who brings peace? To what group he belongs, etc. etc. We must work as a team.

"Finally, I wish to thank you all who contributed immensely to make this convention a complete success and my special thanks goes out to General Secretary of the Party Maithripala Sirisena.