Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated today (06) in Parliament that he met Ranjan Ramanayake in court, and during their discussion he had said that the Opposition Leader’s involvement in his case is the reason he is in jail. “He told me that there were 103 witnesses for his case but Sajith Premadasa asked him to use only three witnesses for the case which would result in him going to jail. After that the matter could be escalated with the Geneva Human Rights Council. However, Ranjan assured that he would not do that,” Mahindananda said. Minister Aluthgamage stated that he would bring a letter that confirmed the statement from Ranjan Ramanayake if those in the parliament would not accept it. He urged the Opposition not to talk about securing Ranjan’s parliamentary seat but to actually assist him to do something to secure it. “No one had accompanied Ranjan to the courts or helped him during his case. But in the parliament, all the Opposition ministers are fighting for Ranjan’s seat,” he said. Responding to this, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa stated that he was not Ranjan Ramanayake’s lawyer but he had done everything in his power to take him out of the prison.