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SLPP disappointed in Wimal W.

03 Feb 2021

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has expressed the party’s “disappointment” in the actions of Minister of Industries Wimal Weerawansa for working against the unity within the governing party with regard to the East Container Terminal (ECT) issue. “Minister Wimal Weerawansa is also a member of the Cabinet and the governing party. We have governing party meetings, cabinet meetings that function with a certain unity. He should have acted in accordance. So we are disappointed,” SLPP General Secretary and Member of Parliament (MP) Sagara Kariyawasam said. He was responding to a question raised by a journalist at the SLPP press conference on Monday (1) as to whether Weerawansa’s attempt to leave the Government was behind the Government’s decision to change its stance on granting a 49% share of the ECT Terminal to foreign countries. Kariyawasam added that the President nor the Government let any individual influence the Government’s decisions, and claimed that it is the Government alone that loves the country and does what’s best for the country. Attempts to contact Minister Weerawansa for a response to this comment proved futile. It was also reported on Monday that Weerawansa received criticism from members of the Cabinet for publicly expressing his stance objecting the Government’s supposed earlier plan to grant a 49% share of the ECT to the Adani Group of India. The Minister was reported to have expressed this stance alongside Minister of Water Supply Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila, State Minister of Batik, Handloom, and Local Apparel Products Dayasiri Jayasekara, and MP Gevindu Kumaratunga. The Cabinet of Ministers on Monday decided to operate the ECT as a wholly owned container terminal of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) following the objection of trade unions, political parties, and civil society organisations.


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