It is reported that the Member of Parliament for the SLPP Mahindananda Aluthgamage has made a strong accusation against the National Organizer of the party Basil Rajapaksa at the meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) held in Parliament yesterday (21).
Former CEB Chairman MC Ferdinando had earlier made a statement before the COPE Committee that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pressured President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to hand over a proposed power project in Mannar to the Indian Adani Company, which had caused a great deal of controversy. Ferdinando later withdrew his statement and resigned as chairman of the Electricity Board.
During a meeting of the COPE yesterday, the statement was re-discussed. Mahindananda Aluthgamage has stated that this was not a statement made only at the behest of Ferdinando but a statement made with the consent of Basil Rajapaksa. Aluthgamage has said that Basil Rajapaksa had obtained a loan from India when he was the Minister of Finance and that he wanted to have the credit of it only for himself. Sources say that Basil Rajapaksa has been accused of trying to raise a diplomatic issue between Sri Lanka and India without allowing the loan to be taken further.
Former Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage, a senior member of the SLPP, is currently working closely with a group of independent parliamentarians and is also involved in the project to make Dullas Alahapperuma the Prime Minister, sources said.
