Artistes snub two ministers of new government

Two youth artistes at an award Ceremony held at Nelum Pokuna refrained from shaking hands and refused to accept the awards from the newly appointed Ministers Udaya Gammanpila and Duminda Dissanayake.

The incident had taken place at the 40th National Youth Awards Ceremony organised jointly by the National Youth Corps and the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.

The two artistes are Sureen Chamikara and Kasun Chathuranga.

Mr Chamikara who first came to the stage to receive his award shook hands with actor Sriyantha Mendis, but refused to receive the award from the hands of Mr Dissanayke and Mr Gammanpila. He made a hand gesture to convey the message and received the award from Mr. Mendis.

Following him, Mr Chaturanga also collected his award from the hands of the official who was trying to give the award to Mr Gammanpila to be given away.

He also refused to shake hands w i t h M r. Dissanayake and even ignored when Gammanpila tried to smile and greet him in the traditional way of clasping his hands.

The two politicians were left with fixed smiles long after the snub.