Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Parliamentarian and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa yesterday resigned as a National List MP and at a media briefing spoke his heart out giving much fodder to political analyst, critics of the Rajapaksa regime and social media.

Basil’s resignation came exactly a month after his elder brother Mahinda stepped down as the Prime Minister.

Following his submission of resignation to the Secretary General of Parliament, Rajapaksa told the media that he will not be involved in State governance — but will continue to focus on the operations of SLPP.

“I will not be involved in any Government activities hereafter, but I cannot and will not step away from politics,” he told journalists.

Rajapaksa said his resignation will bring in a suitable individual to Parliament under the SLPP seat.

“I have told the party to consider approaching one of the representatives from the Galle Face calling on a system change, to replace my seat. We are willing to accommodate if they are ready to accept,” he added.

Speculation was that business leader Dhammika Perera is likely to fill the vacancy in the SLPP National List. Perera obtained the membership of SLPP on Wednesday.

Rajapaksa said he did not expect to take up the post of Finance Minister, adding that he did his duty to the best of his abilities — but could not live up to the people’s expectations and grant what the public demanded.

Former Finance Minister stressed that he was not the cause of the economic crisis, whilst insisting that he cannot be held responsible for the foreign exchange crisis.

“The economy was adversely impacted due to COVID pandemic when I took over as the Finance Minister. The people should know that the flour and fuel they receive at present are due to agreements I formed during my visit to India. The reserves did not drop during my tenure, rather there was no foreign exchange anyway,” he explained.

Rajapaksa also affirmed that he was the frontrunner to initiate Sri Lanka’s bid to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but there were two groups within the Government and in the Central Bank for it and against it.

“IMF was initiated by me. My main concerns were to get an expert opinion on if we can solve the issues and to know what benefits people will have by reaching out to the IMF — but no group was able to answer,” he pointed out.

Former Finance Minister said his personal view on the IMF program is not going to bring in any major benefit to the economy, rather it will be a mere ‘handover’.

Asked if it was correct to request people to do home gardening now to face a looming food shortage after the Government’s unsuccessful agricultural policies, a visibly agitated Rajapaksa lashed out stating that voters were responsible for electing them into power.

“What is your claim on passing the ball to the public? I do not even have a ball. Well, the public is at fault for electing us into power because they were the ones who passed on the ball to us at the election,” he added.
https://www.ft.lk/top-story/Basil-bolts-with-a-bang/26-736011