‘We never said NPP government will not take loans’: Lal Kantha

• Says it is important to utilise loans in effective investments 

By Ajith Siriwardana

Claiming that none of the National People’s Power (NPP) leaders had claimed that the NPP government would not obtain loans, NPP member Lal Kantha said President Anura Kumara Dissanayake continuously said loans are not a ‘crime’.

He told reporters that it is important to utilise loans in effective investments without robbing or defrauding the funds.“We have never said we will run the government without obtaining loans. I challenge those who make allegations to prove where we have said that we will run a government without obtaining loans. We challenge whether the President, MP or any NPP leader had said so. Anura Dissanayake continuously said loans are not a ‘crime’. We need loans. What is important is to utilise loans in effective investments without corruption and robbing the funds. We will take loans if we want. But, we will never waste money. We will invest them in productive investments,” he said.

Former MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena claimed recently that the President said that he won’t take any loans, but until now he had taken three loans.