Not decided on budget or VOA

President Sirisena confided to us saying that he met Ranil for more than 40 times since the assassination attempt on him came to the public domain

The Government was yet to decide whether it would be a fully-fledged budget or a Vote on Account, but the new Government would take immediate measures to stop the sharp depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the US Dollar, do away with the fuel price formula and bring down the Cost of Living, when it seeks Parliamentary approval for the Government’s expenditure for 2019, SLFP 16 group front liner, former Minister S.B. Dissanayake said.

Addressing the group’s news briefing yesterday, former Minister Dissanayake said the Government had the support of 123 members in Parliament and therefore, passing of the budget or the Vote on Account would not be a difficult task.commenting on the circumstances that led President Maithripala Sirisena to sack former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister Dissanayake said the straw that broke the camel’s back was the alleged conspiracy to assassinate President Sirisena.

“President Sirisena confided to us saying that he met Ranil for more than 40 times since the assassination attempt on him came to the public domain, Ranil did not inquire from him or asked what to do or at least spoke about it on a single occasion.

“Whether the allegation was true or not, the exposure is about the attempt on the life of the Head of State. Ranil should have had the courtesy to talk to President Sirisena and ask him on the next step to be taken,” he stressed.

“Since day one, from January 9, Ranil as the Prime Minister has acted in an extremely arrogant and hostile manner towards President Sirisena and the SLFP.THE country was slipping down a precipice and the economy was on the downturn.the COL was rising and the rupee was depreciating sharply against the dollar. There was no end to the selling of national assets dirt cheap to foreign investors,” Mr Dissanayake noted.

“To further worsen the situation, the biggest ever swindling of public funds, the Central Bank Bond Scam took place and Ranil and Unpers did not like the appointment of a Presidential Commission to probe the scandal. Ranil and his close confidantes did all that is possible to intimidate President Sirisena,” he said.

“The marriage between the UNP and the UPFA and the agreement between the two leaders to form the so-called Yahapalana Government was a misjudgment. In characteristics, thinking, behaviour and political vision and upbringing of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were poles apart.

“All these qualities are much similar to that of Sirisena and Mahinda because both of them are sons of farmers with similar upbringing. Therefore, we tried hard to unite these two wonderful leaders of people for the good of the country and we are glad that we have won our struggle and accomplished our mission to form an SLFP Government with Mahinda as the PM and Sirisena as the President,” Mr Dissanayake said.asked as to why the Cabinet was not still complete, Mr Dissanayake said the Government was waiting to accommodate those, who would cross over to the SLFP in support of the new Government.“we would be the last to accept Ministerial positions because our mission has been completed.we would like to remain as backbenchers if necessary until the next Parliamentary polls while providing space to others in the Cabinet,” he said.