VACATED

“I will not quit Politics” – MR

Pic. by Kithsiri De Mel

Moves were underway to search for a rented house in Colombo for the former president and his wife   

Rajapaksa’s own party slammed the government for resorting to political revenge by ousting him from his official residence saying it was a victory for the LTTE diaspora

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, visited Rajapaksa’s official residence and held discussions with him

At a time when the country faces more pressing issues, the government chose to threaten the former President and compel him to leave his residence

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama   

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday vowed to continue in politics saying he would not quit even after he was forced to leave his official residence at Wijerama Mawatha in Colombo.   
Surrounded by supporters and the media, Rajapaksa said, “I will continue politics. I will never quit politics. We were asked to leave, and we are leaving.”   
His wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa who was seated beside him in the vehicle as they were leaving the premises said she was not sad to vacate and told journalists that she does not usually talk to the media. “I don’t do politics. I just work. I don’t have a story,” she said.   
As the former president and his wife were leaving the bungalow, they were surrounded by hundreds of his supporters – some who cheered, admiring his decision to leave while others had tears in their eyes to see him return back to his home town.   
Rajapaksa’s own party slammed the government for resorting to political revenge by ousting him from his official residence saying it was a victory for the LTTE diaspora.   
“At a time when the country faces more pressing issues, the government chose to threaten the former President and compel him to leave his residence,” Attorney-at-Law Manoj Gamage, spokesperson for the former President told reporters.  Gamage further added that the move showed the government’s mistreatment of the leader credited with ending Sri Lanka’s 30-year civil war.   
Just moments before Rajapaksa and his wife left the Wijerama residence, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, visited Rajapaksa’s official residence and held discussions with him. Details of the discussions were not made public. 

Meanwhile, Rajapaksa’s third son, Rohitha Rajapaksa known better as ‘Chichi’ or ‘Rocket Man’ was seen leaving the Wijerama house moments before his father left. Rohitha was seen driving off in a yellow luxury vehicle.   

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of Mahinda Rajapaksa in a statement on X said that his father had returned to his hometown. “Today, my father leaves the official residence in Colombo and returns to Tangalle, the place where it all began. 

A reminder that true strength comes from our roots, the love of the people, not positions or privileges,” he wrote last afternoon.   

According to the new guidelines, Rajapaksa’s personal belongings will be officially handed over after a week while sources said that moves were underway to search for a rented house in Colombo for the former president and his wife.    

‘I will move in two months’ time’- CBK

Sought permission from Prez to live in current official residence paying government assessed rent   

Recovering from a hip replacement surgery, unable to move properly   

She had found a house which is under renovation at the moment for her to occupy in Colombo

Govt must give three-months notice before I vacate the premises

By Kelum Bandara   

In the wake of the enactment of the Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Act, former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who governed between 1994 and 2005, said that she would vacate her official residence in two months’ time.    

Making an exclusive comment to Daily Mirror on her next move after the new law came into effect, she said that she had found a house which is under renovation at the moment for her to occupy in Colombo. She said a three-month notice must be given for anyone occupying a government house before he or she vacates the premises, according to the regulations. She said she had not yet been notified in this regard. However, she said she would not take more than two months to move out, and it would be even less if renovation work was completed ahead of schedule.   
Asserting that she was recovering from a hip replacement surgery after a fall three weeks ago, she said she could not move down even from upstairs. 

“I found a small house with some renovation to be done. My son said he would come and help me for a week. In the meantime, three weeks ago, I fell and fractured my hip. I had a hip placement surgery. It is a serious surgery. I have physiotherapy two or three times a day. Therefore, I cannot move and do any work at that new house at the moment,” she said.   

Pending the enactment of the new law, she said that she also wrote to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake asking for permission to live in the current place for the rest of her life by paying the government-assessed rent, but it was declined. She said she sought further stay in the same place under new arrangements since moving out was difficult for her during her old age, surviving two bouts of cancer within 15 years.   

“I even agreed to pay for repairs,” she said, adding that she had already paid Rs.14 million out of her pocket for renovation, repair and refurbishment of it after it was assigned to her as her official residence in retirement.  “When I came here, there was not even a blade of grass here. It was only gravel. I got landscaping done. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government refused to pay it at that time,” she said.   

In my correspondence with the President, she said she mentioned that she was the only one out of the five retired Presidents not to be investigated by the current government.  “I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “From the day when Anura Kumara Dissanayake started shouting on election platforms, he did not say anything about how they were going to resolve the country’s problems. They were talking about dealing with corruption. That, of course, is very good. Still, they don’t know how to prevent corruption in their own government. They only keep shouting about capturing fraudsters. They did not say a word about developing the country. Education is in a mess. Health is a mess. The only other slogan they had is chasing the former Presidents out of their residences. I did not give a hoot. In many countries, there are many more privileges than this. Even in India, there are better privileges,” Ms. Kumaratunga said.   
She said, “I don’t have a house in Colombo. My one and only house was in Rosmead Place. I have sold it. I live off that money. I have not indulged in corruption.”   

During her hunting for houses, she said that there were people who were willing to offer her houses on rent.  “Once I inspected these houses and settled for them, owners came out with various excuses not to proceed with the transactions. Then I heard they were worried the JVP would deploy their beloved media man called ‘Suda’ who slandered me in filth. When he started slandering me in obscene language, the house owners were worried that the JVP would hound them,”