President claims UNP delaying major probes to save Rajapaksas

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura on Esala Poya yesterday. Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

By Our Political Editor-Sunday, July 09, 2017

• Cabinet meeting bombshell exposes widening crack in National Unity Government; SLFP and UNP at crossroads amid reports
• of PC polls this year Sirisena wants to bring the Rajapaksas to book; but questions about how far he could go; Police say some important arrests are on the cards
• Survey in Sinhala-speaking areas show Rajapaksa popularity intact while Sirisena faction’s standing is plunging

The first real sign that the two and half year old coalition — once dubbed harmoniously as the ‘National Unity Government’ — is cracking emerged last Tuesday.It surfaced at the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Secretariat. In a no-holds-barred speech, an angry President Maithripala Sirisena did not mince his words. He pointedly accused his partner in governance, the United National Party (UNP), of stalling investigations into allegations of bribery, corruption and other acts of fraud allegedly committed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family members, close associates and top officials. Mama dannawa mewa patharawala pala wei kiyala. Ekata kamak nehe (I know this will appear in the newspapers. That does not matter), he asserted.

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