Chief Government Whip and Urban Development and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranathunga said that people who did not come forward to take over the country during the crisis are fighting to take over the country today.
If we turn back at this moment, the country will collapse and an era of queues will be created again, the Minister said this while participating in the Puluwan Sri Lanka election rally held in Kalutara yesterday for the victory of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
“We are a left-wing group that represents the five great forces of Sanga, Veda, Guru, Govi and Kamkaru. In my forty years of political history, I have never supported President Ranil Wickremasinghe. I also did not have any hope to do so. Because we used to belong to two places ideologically and politically.
“When we were carrying forward the Mahinda Sulanga around the country, we were thrown out of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. After we were thrown out, we made the Pohottuwa to lead the five great forces. We worked to create the strongest political party in this country. Even if we formed the party, formed the government and appointed Presidents, we did not have the ability to manage the economic crisis caused by the Covid pandemic.
“We had 156 members in Parliament. 6.9 million people voted for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and took power. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the President of the government, Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister, Basil Rajapaksa was the Finance Minister, Chamal Rajapaksa was a Cabinet Minister and Namal Rajapaksa also had five ministries. One-sixth of the Cabinet was Rajapaksas during that time. When the economic crisis came, we talked about various problems in the Cabinet. When foreign reserves were decreasing, one group said yes to the IMF and another group said no.
“The advisory board worked according to Viyathmaga instructions rather than those of us who played politics. They said don’t go to the IMF. They created an unnecessary fear that the country would have collapsed if they went for the IMF. At the end, our group of MPs was reduced from 156 to 123. All others were independent and sat in the opposition. The situation became increasingly dangerous. Due to the struggle, the President had to leave the country. Mahinda Rajapaksa also left his post. All of us who were members of the Parliament invited the opposition to come and take over this country. We also said that we will help unconditionally.
“There was no one to take over the country except President Ranil Wickremesinghe. But today there are thirty-seven candidates who will take over the country after it is freed from bankruptcy. These thirty-seven people were people who said no to take over the country when it was in crisis.
The post All who shied during crisis, vying for power after President’s fete – Minister appeared first on DailyNews.