Bogollagama thrown out, Gota to Kotte!

 

Thursday, 05 June 2014 

Deciding to appoint Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the SLFP electoral organizer for Kotte electorate in Colombo district, president Mahinda Rajapaksa has told incumbent, former foreign affairs minister Rohitha Bogollagama, to resign, sources say.

After he takes up the electoral organizer position, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is to be appointed to parliament on the national list and then assigned as the minister of urban development and deputy minister of defence, according to the sources.

The defence secretary stressed in an interview to ‘Deshaya’ newspaper last Sunday that he was prepared to enter politics if the president made a request. Although the president had decided to field him from Kurunegala district at the last general election, he had refused to enter politics from Kurunegala district.

The president has decided to post Gotabhaya to Colombo immediately in order to give him the district leader position as he expects UPFA front-liners in Colombo Wimal Weerawansa, Champika Ranawaka and Thilanga Sumathipala to dodge their responsibilities.

The president has taken this decision as he knows that it is tactically important to keep Colombo and Gampaha, the districts with the highest populations, under his two brothers, sources add.