UNP disowns Ranjan’s stunt MPs lobby for probe committee

• Ranjan likely to be deprived of UNP ticket at general polls

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana 

No one in the UNP including party chief Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa approves what MP Ranjan Ramanayake did by recording telephone conversations he had with various individuals, Anuradhapura District UNP MP Anura Sidney Jayaratne told Parliament yesterday. 

The call to appoint a special committee intensified yesterday when several ministers urged President Rajapaksa for the second day to immediately probe the voice recordings concerned. Commenting on this, the President said he would have to consult his lawyers before taking a decision. 

Meanwhile, Government Spokesman and Minister Aluthgamage told Daily Mirror that he would visit the Acting IGP today to lodge a complaint against former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and MP Ramanayake over their alleged telephone conversation to assassinate him. 

“I will request the Acting IGP to restart investigations into the alleged incident in which MP Ramanayake was found practising his shooting capabilities at his official residence at Madiwela in 2016. Despite repeated requests, the IGP never investigated this,” he said. 

Furthermore, he alleged that the former premier was “very angry” with him for spearheading several campaigns against the Yahapalana Government since 2016. “I was a real headache for Ranil,” he said. 

However, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Tuesday refuted the allegation levelled against him of plotting to kill Minister Aluthgamage. He asked Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to obtain relevant CDs from the police, examine them and inform Parliament whether there had been any such plot.