By Dinasena Rathugamage
Douglas Devananda, who contested and won the Jaffna District General Election this time, and Sri Lanka Freedom Party MP Angajan Ramanathan are once again at loggerheads political sources said,
Angajan Ramanathan was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the previous government and received the highest number of preferential votes in this General Election.
Many people affiliated to the SLFP demanded that he be given a ministerial post because he too had supported Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
However, due to the strong opposition of Minister Douglas Devananda it is reported that Angajan Ramanathan was not given a ministerial post giving rise to a political rift between the two.
It is reported that Devananda has objected to the appointment of Ramanathan as a cabinet minister on the grounds that it would be a challenge to the party’s existence in the Jaffna district and in the Northern Province.
Devananda has been given the post of Cabinet Minister as well as the post of Chairman of the Kilinochchi District Development Committee by the People’s Front.
Jathika Nidahas Peramuna leader Wimal Weerawansa has also requested the government to give Ramanathan a cabinet ministerial post.
Devananda, who has been elected to Parliament from the Jaffna District since 1989, was the first to support Ranasinghe Premadasa and, after his death, extended his support to the Progressive Left Camp.
