How does a call of nature last for 30 min? asks MR

While urging the President and ministers not to belittle the post he holds, his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday wanted to know if it was a bladder or a water tank that President Maithripala Sirisena has to answer a call of nature for 30 minutes.

Minister Rajitha Senaratne on Wednesday said President Sirisena did not storm out of the Cabinet meeting and he had simply gone out to answer a call of nature.

Mr. Rajapaksa said the minister had come up with this ludicrous excuse to cover up the fact that the President had actually been furious and had stormed out of the Cabinet meeting.

“There was a drama enacted at a Cabinet meeting held recently. The scriptwriter is unknown. The President has come to the meeting, yelled and then had stormed out. Afterwards, the Prime Minister and other ministers had gone and brought the President back. This is like a boy leaving a house following a fight with his parents and is then brought back in after consoling him.

When asked about this by journalists at the Cabinet briefing, Ministers say the President went out to answer a call of nature. Is it a bladder or the water tank from Colombo that the President has to answer a call of nature for half an hour?

The post of President shouldn't be belittled in this manner. When this happens the country and its people also feel they are being belittled,” Mr. Rajapaksa explained.

He expressed these views at a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) election rally held at the Vihara Maha Devi Open Theatre in Colombo on Thursday.

Commenting on the development projects carried out by the previous government in Colombo, Mr. Rajapaksa said their objective had been to elevate Colombo City to higher standards by the time the Port City was completed.

“All the development work has been reversed now. Garbage is piling up everywhere. Dengue cases are on the increase. This is why we need to rebuild the city as well as the country soon,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

Pix by Nisal Baduge