25 August 2021 08:48 am Views - 93
By Sandun A Jayasekera
SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam’s comments on the demand made by Cabinet Ministers of the constituent parties to go for a countrywide lock-down has not created any discomfort to either the government or to the President, Cabinet Spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma said yesterday.
Addressing the weekly post cabinet news briefing, Minister Alahapperuma defended Ministers Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila for writing to President Rajapaksa to declare an island wide lock-down to contain the pandemic.
However, he said when the Cabinet decided to go for a lock-down, the three ministers left the Cabinet meeting on Monday night much earlier.
He also said that President Rajapaksa must take strict action against them because this was not the first time they acted against the government and the SLPP.
“The Cabinet meeting went on up to 10.10 on Monday night. The decision to impose the all island lock-down was taken after a long discussion at the tail end of the meeting. Yes, the earlier decision of the Cabinet was to not to go for a lock-down. By then Vasu, Wimal and Udaya had excused themselves and left the Cabinet meeting as they had planned a separate discussion on the same issue at 8.00 pm. Therefore, they had not been aware of the Cabinet decision and as such wrote to President requesting for a lock-down,” Minister Alahapperuma noted.
General Secretary and Parliamentarian, Mr. Kariyawasam addressing a news briefing on Monday charged that the demand to declare a countrywide lock-down was a conspiracy hatched by the three ministers to embarrass President Rajapaksa and the government after raising their hand at the Cabinet not to go for a lock-down. “We are all in the SLPP government and committed to protect, promote and strengthen it. But we are also a coalition government with a number of constituent partners who have diverse policies and ideologies.
Therefore, it is natural that they hold different viewpoints on government actions. However, we resolve all of them within ourselves through dialogue and compromise and we stick together as a coalition government all the time,” Minister Alahapperuma stressed.