State Minister Semasinghe snaps back at his erstwhile colleagues in previous govt.

.. ‘Wimal too contributed to the collapse of economy’

By Saman Indrajith

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe yesterday in Parliament accused the previous Cabinet of ministers, including his erstwhile colleague Wimal Weerawansa, who served under then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of having caused the country’s bankruptcy.

Fielding a question raised by Weerawansa, Semasinghe said: “Decisions made by the Cabinet that you were in led to the bankruptcy of the country.

“We’re bringing in all reforms needed to prevent bribery and corruption. Necessary laws are being made. The problem is that none of the people criticising these things supported any of these reforms. Nor have they even proposed an alternative. Having been in the Cabinet that made wrong decisions and bankrupted the country, it is not fair for you to speak against these reforms as the country now moves forward,” Semasinghe told Weerawansa.

Weerawansa earlier in the day found fault with the government for not holding local council polls. If the government did not hold the elections, then the nominations had to be cancelled as nobody knew when the LG polls would be held.

The government has claimed that bankruptcy has stood in the way of elections. If the government won’t hold elections, it should bring a new law to cancel the nominations and enable the candidates to report back to their work. As per the existing laws, these candidates cannot go to work as they still remain candidates for the election announced by the Election Commission,” Weerawansa said.