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Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Thursday, 13 August 2020 02:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Former President Maithripala Sirisena and several other seniors were sidelined and did not get any Cabinet or State ministerial portfolios at yesterday’s swearing-in by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sirisena, who topped the Polonnaruwa preferential votes list, was present at the ceremony held at the Magul Maduwa in Kandy, but neither he nor several others who held ministerial portfolios in the previous Government were given appointments.
Among those left out were Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, S.B. Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, John Seneviratne, Chandima Weerakkody, and Dilan Perera.
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena who is tipped to be the new Speaker also did not get any portfolio.
The Daily FT learns that several of these senior politicians had turned down offers of appointment as State Ministers and insisted they get Cabinet portfolios.
The President yesterday appointed 25 Cabinet Ministers, 39 State Ministers and 23 District Coordinating Committee Chairpersons.
S.B. Dissanayake was appointed as the District Coordinating Committee Chairman for Nuwara Eliya even though he did not get a Ministry portfolio.
