• I did not have any meal with Mahendran

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament yesterday, denied the allegation made by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP S. M. Marikar that he had met Arjuna Mahendran who was accused of the bond scam and had lunch with him in Singapore on the way to Sri Lanka from Japan. 

However we received information that he had actually met Mahendran and had lunch with him,” Marikkar said.  “I did not have any meal with Mahendran. I only had breakfast with a Singaporean Minister and had my lunch inside Singapore Airlines aircraft during my flight from Singapore to Colombo. I can show the menu to the MP. MP Marikkar said another ‘Aragalaya’ is in the offing. Former MP Hirunika Premachandra also said the same thing. I wonder whether MP Marikkar is following in the footsteps of Ms Premachandra,” the President said.  

“I would like to tell the President that I would never follow Ms Premachandra,” Marikkar said.  

“If you don’t follow Hirunika, follow me and work for me,” the President replied.