Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa speaking to NethFM today (30) said the best option for anyone who is against the collective decisions made by the government is to leave the government.
“If a deal was signed, the said 40 per cent of the Yugadanavi Plant must have been transferred, right? But no shares were transferred. This means that the final deal has clearly not yet been signed. But there are allegations.
So, what I believe is that if I am in the Cabinet, it would be my responsibility to talk about Cabinet affairs within the Cabinet. Even media colleagues were not pleased with me for not producing voice cuts after a Cabinet meeting. I do not, because there is a Cabinet Spokesman who is producing a voice cut after a Cabinet meeting. He should be the one to disclose the Cabinet affairs first. I even do not disclose of a Cabinet paper I table until the official Press Conference. That is my policy.
So, if we are to hold a collective responsibility, the fact whether someone is ‘removed’ is irrelevant. If that is the case, they should challenge it by leaving the Table. We challenged the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, we left it, did we not? Leaving it, we took the membership of the Pohottuwa. It was only then we started challenging. We did not challenge when we were in the Party. I think, if someone has criticism about the government, the best option is to express their criticism by leaving the government. But as a government, His Excellence the President, the Prime Minister and we the Cabinet have put a step back in every occasion in which such a criticism is levelled proving it to be unsuitable for the country,” Rajapaksa said.
MIAP