President Ranil Wickremesinghe has told a few top-rung members of the SLPP whom he met recently that the new Cabinet would only be appointed in accordance with the needs of the country.
The SLPP seniors have pointed out to the President that if he fails to appoint a new cabinet comprising Johnston Fernando, Rohita Abeygoonesekara, Namal Rajapaksa and a few others immediately there is a strong possibility of the Budget being defeated. The SLPP members have also told the President that the opposition is organizing itself to defeat the Budget.
While the President said he wouldn’t do that right now, if they wanted to, they could defeat the budget. He has also said he saw how the same set of people was trying to defeat the 22nd (Now 21st) amendment.
He has also said they could defeat the budget and lose their Parliamentary seat at the same time if they so wish to.
Senior SLPP members who have been seeking to be appointed to the Cabinet met the President two days ago. They informed the President that the opposition is fully geared up to defeat the government at the budget under the current circumstances. They also advised the President to appoint the new Cabinet immediately to avoid a possible threat of defeat.
As the President patiently listened to their concerns, he responded that he couldn’t run the country according to the whims and fancies of others. There are much more critical matters to deal with in order to provide relief for the people.
He has also said that this was not the time appropriate to appoint a new cabinet and as the head of state he would take decisions and if they are not pleased with this they could move ahead and defeat the Budget.
The President has also stated, he is not the one who stands to lose, but rather the people who are demanding that Cabinet members be appointed immediately.
