3 January 2019 12:35 pm
He said Fonseka did not have qualifications to be promoted to that post and Sri Lanka was fortunate that he was not elected as president.
"When I assumed duties as the deputy minister of the Wildlife Ministry, I thought I was so lucky to work under a war hero like Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. But I gradually realised that he was not the person he appeared to be," the deputy minister said. “I suffered a lot because of Sarath Fonseka. I was sentenced to prison for 400 days. My party membership was suspended. He did not even have the courtesy to ask me what happened.”
He said they had helped him unconditionally when he was nominated as the common candidate during the election and that he was personally involved in re-erecting elephant fences because Fonseka was not concerned about such issues.
"Fonseka has said I will not be nominated but it is Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the party who will decide whether to nominate me or not. It is none of his business. I secured 1.8 million votes. Fonseka got only 2,000 votes. It is clear who should be given nominations,” the deputy minister said.
He said I was removed from my post because of a wise decision taken by the Prime Minister.
“If the Prime Minister has taken that decision, he should be responsible for the human-elephant conflict and should be answerable to the people. Fonseka ruined the funds of the Wildlife ministry and had done nothing for the country. Fonseka has also claimed that my family used vehicles belonging to the ministry. My family has not even seen my ministerial vehicle. The truth behind this whole drama is that Fonseka is not ready to accept that I have worked hard in the ministry. Now he is mad and crying because of not having a ministerial post. I can offer my Social Empowerment Deputy Minister’s post if he wants,” the deputy minister said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)
Video by Susantha