People have already selected Ranil for Presidency: Prasanna

By Ajith Siriwardana
Claiming that people will not vote as a gratitude for goods distributed by politicians, Minister Prasanna Ranatunge said yesterday people have already selected Ranil Wickremesinghe for Presidency as he can rescue the country from the economic crisis.  
The Minister said this to the media after an event to distribute rice to low income families in Kelaniya.  
Responding to a question, he said they were not distributing rice targeting elections and added that people who hold different political ideologies benefit from this programme.  
“We are not doing this targeting elections. People who hold different political ideologies are here. People will not vote even though goods are distributed. People have already selected Ranil Wickremesinghe. That is because he could rescue the country from the economic crisis,” he said.  

He said the government had purchased paddy stocks to control paddy prices and provided relief to paddy farmers as there was a surplus of rice stocks in the market.  
“We were not able to celebrate New Year and Christmas due to Covid-19. But, the economy is somewhat stable. That is because of the sacrifices made by the people. The low-income families made the greatest sacrifices. The President is providing these reliefs despite instructions of the international organisations not to do so,” he said.