Bandula turns down invitation by President

Joint Opposition MP Bandula Gunawardana yesterday claimed he must turn down the invitation sent by President Maithripala Sirisena to participate in a discussion on the current economic situation in the country.

“The invitation was sent to me by the President’s private secretary, Erick Prasanna, stating that the President wishes to discuss with me regarding the current economic crisis on 1 October at 7 pm,” MP Gunawardana said in a press conference.

He said he has informed the President that he needed to discuss with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and members of the Joint Opposition prior to attending such a meeting. 

He pointed out that the Government has to follow the same policies followed by the previous Government to overcome the current economic crisis. He said that mismanagement by the Government led to this situation.

“The figures tabled by the Finance Minister on the National Debt cannot be accepted. And I must say, the previous Government had nothing to do with the current economic crisis. The Prime Minister and the UNP MPs are trying to find some silly excuses to cover up the mess they made,” he added.

He also went on to say that the Central Bank’s decision to buy dollars in the forex market will not bring a permanent solution to stabilise the currency.