President couldn't handle corruption in RW's government; that's why he turned to the opposition : MR

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The 22nd annual conference of the Mahajana Eksath Permauna was held in Colombo today (February 17) under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. The conference was held at the New Town Hall in Colombo. The leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna MP Dinesh Gunawardena, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa were among those who attended the event. Addressing those gathered, President Maithripala Sirisena noted that something that should be well understood is that it is not Ranil Wickremesinghe who controls the UNP. He continued to say that in order to face the challenge of an election that will undoubtedly give rise to a new government this year that a strong comprehensive alliance needs to be formed. The President added that the people of the country should not be worried on who the next President or Prime Minister of the country will be but on what the next government will be, their action plan and their objectives. Commenting on the current debt burden of the country the President said that the debt burden of the country is a challenge that the whole country has to overcome at present. He said that ministries alone owe more than Rs. 100 billion for various development activities out of which none have been paid as yet. Due to the failure in payments of around Rs. 70-80 million to certain private contractors the operations of those projects have been halted. The President continued to say that even state banks can collapse due to the excessive lending patterns and that they do not provide accurate reports that reflect the financial position of these institutions. He also pointed out the problems existing with the payment of salaries and wages to the state sector employees. General Secretary of the Communist Party in Sri Lanka D.E.W. Gunasekara said that the country is currently facing a severe economic crisis due to the debt trap. He claimed that the country's debt burden consists of Rs. 53 billion obtained through foreign sources and Rs. 11 trillion obtained through local sources. Gunasekara added that the root cause for all this chaos is the weaknesses and the negativities in the country's monetary, economic and government policies. Dinesh Gunawardena the Leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna said that the CBSL had withdrawn their bonds issued for emergency funding purposes last month since no one was willing to invest in their funds. He also disclosed the fact that the government was compelled to obtain a loan from China adding that all these events attribute to the wrong decisions and policies followed by the current government. Also speaking at the event the Leader of the Opposition, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the Prime Minister on a recent tour, to Jaffna, had made a statement on the war crimes committed when the Rajapaksa government was in power. The former President declined this accusation. He further said that when and wherever a soldier had committed a crime on a personal basis that they had not hesitated to punish them adding that it cannot be considered as a war crime.  The Opposition Leader also said that, for that matter, that eradicating terrorism is not a war crime. He said that at present the country is facing a plethora of issues where the country's sovereignty is being challenged and the country is facing massive debt. He added that it is because the President couldn't handle the corruption under the Ranil Wickremesinghe government that he had turned to the opposition for support to resolve the issues.