Conspirers trying to create conflict between President, PM: Arjuna

A conspiracy is being created to cause conflict between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, says Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga.

Charging that a group that made money in the previous Government is behind this conspiracy, the Minister further said that several websites were trying to cause this conflict in a technical manner.

“On 8 January politicians who love to fulfil the need of the people joined hands together to ensure justice in this nation. Their only purpose was to protect the unity between the President and the Prime Minister for future development of the country. But few websites are spreading false rumours, targeting these politicians. The initial efforts of these websites are to slander the politicians’ character. The indirect objective is to weaken the unity between the President and the Prime Minister,” he said, adding that this would never be allowed.

“We obtained two opportunities to develop the country. One was the tsunami disaster. But at that phase we did not make good decisions. The second is when the war ended against the terrorists. But then again we were unable develop the country or bring all nations together. Again in January 2015 we received the opportunity to develop our country. On 8 January a leader from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party became the President and a Leader from the United National Party became the Prime Minister. Now we have made plans to develop the country in five years. However, an organised group is working diplomatically to break this unity,” he noted.

Charing that several websites were behind these moves, he added: “In the recent past most of these websites operated for money. They took money from organisations and protected the thieves. Now they are trying to play off the President and the Prime Minister. In order to fulfil this objective they are carrying out a mud campaign against us. To stop this mud campaign they are requesting money from us as well. However, we will not allow them to steal. We will not provide money from our organisations. We want this country to move forward not only from the political side but also in every other way.”

The Minister made these statements attending the ‘Save the Sports’ couching camp and workshop held in Gampaha at Urapola Central College on Sunday. Cricket, volleyball, football and netball games were included in the workshop organised by ‘Save the Sports’ organisation. Those who participated in the workshop was awarded prizes.