Rajapaksa & Wickremesinghe - Deal politics in Sri Lanka

Colombo (News 1st) - Convenor of the Voice Against Corruption Wasantha Samarasinghe addressing a media briefing on Friday (Feb 21) stated that politicians who rule the country protect each other. Samarasinghe believes that Ranil Wickremesinghe and Maithripala Sirisena protected the Rajapaksas and the Cabraals, who were responsible for the scams in the treasury bond market. In turn, Ranil Wickremesinghe who lost his position as the opposition leader has been given 8 vehicles and 200 security officers, by prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Samarasinghe described this phenomenon as "deal politics." The Convenor of the Voice Against Corruption also noted that when Ranil was in power, he protected Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family and that Mahinda is returning the favor by protecting Ranil and all of his friends. Samarasinghe went onto note that as the Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa never questioned Ranil on the bond scam or about fugitive Arjuna Mahendran. He went onto state that even though Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his team came to power, pledging to punish the perpetrators, no action has been taken. However, Samarasinghe expressed some hope by stating that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has the perfect opportunity to stamp out "deal politics."