The much waited appointments of the Cabinet will be delayed further as the crisis deepens within the inner circle of the government, political sources said. Although it was announced that the new cabinet to be sworn in today (11), has been postponed indefinitely.
It is reported that the crisis has arisen as the President is trying to name the cabinet without single member of the Rajapaksa family, while Namal Rajapaksa is strongly demanding the post of Sports Minister and the internal majority of SLPP are against the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.
The majority of SLPP believe that if Mahinda Rajapaksa remains as the Prime Minister it can be solved many political issues this juncture. They point out that if the government had face a no confidence motion Mahinda’s Premiership would be vital to defeat it and save the government.
In this context, when inquired by the Secretary of the SLPP’s t Sagara Kariyawasam regarding the appointment of the Cabinet, he said that there are certain issues regarding the appointments of the Cabinet and that various levels of discussions will take place within the parties until those issues are resolved.
The Secretary General said that a final decision would be taken as soon as possible after resolving these issues, adding that the government had also started discussions with the parties that had left the government.
It is said that in this situation the President has not been able to appoint the nominated cabinet.
It was reported that the President had unofficially instructed several persons including Gamini Lokuge and Rohitha Abeygunawardena to prepare for the swearing in of the Cabinet yesterday.
