Walk the talk and go home: Ravi tells Wimal

4 May 2013 01:58 am

United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake referring to the separate May Day rally and the speech made by Minister Wimal Weerawansa challenged him to “walk the talk” and go home.

At a May Day rally Minister Weerawansa claimed that his portfolio was of little value to him and he could leave it at any moment if the government acted against his conscience.

Responding to this statement, in an interview with Daily Mirror, Mr. Karunanayake said Minister Weerawansa was known to make such statements but had never followed up on these threats.

“He took office in 2005 shouting out that jobs will be given to the unemployed and the cost of living will be reduced. He even carried out a fast or ‘farce’ unto death unless Ban Ki-moon withdrew his panel of experts, but nothing happened,” he said.

Mr. Karunanayake said Minister Weerawansa was known to make humerous statements but lacked the gumption to actually carry out any of his threats of leaving the government.

Meanwhile Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Anura Kumara Dissanayaka said Minister Weerawansa had a need to come up with various shenanigans to gain public attention.

“He is like a child seeking attention. He used the word motherland as a cloak to cover up the nakedness of his bankrupt political platform,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayaka alleged that Minister Weerawansa had allied with the government and supported it while it took steps which were harmful to the country.

“He has been with the government when they sold Sri Lankan oil resources to India, sold the islands along Kalpitiya and commercial lands in Colombo to external investors and he was also there when we entered into unprofitable agreements with the governments of China and India. Therefore it is very confusing to us; what he considers a betrayal of the motherland. I think his definition of this term and the definition given by the people of this country are very different,” he said.