The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Lawyers’ Association has called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to bring SLPP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa to Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers.
The SLPP Lawyers’ Association members who held a press conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on Thursday (July 1) said SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa’s entry to Parliament and the Cabinet will help the country to move in the right direction.
President of the SLPP Lawyers’ Association, President’s Counsel W. Dayaratne said Basil Rajapaksa’s statesmanship and the ability to hold fast unto long-term and broad-based economic development plans had seen the country through economic crises in the past.
He recalled that the country had achieved seven percent economic growth during the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government when Basil Rajapaksa was Economic Development Minister. “He achieved remarkable structural changes in the country’s economy and made Sri Lanka one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia,” Dayaratne said.
He said SLPP lawyers have noted that Basil Rajapaksa’s leadership skills, planning and experience are much needed. The Government should get his services to see the country through these difficult times in which even the most robust economies faced severe setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Association’s Secretary, Attorney Athula de Silva said their countrywide membership of over 1,500 with representation in all provinces, including the Northern and the Eastern provinces, have conveyed to President Rajapaksa that Basil Rajapaksa should play a role that enhances the responsibilities of Executive and Legislative branches of the Government.
De Silva said they have called on the Government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to use the expertise and the skills of former Minister Basil Rajapaksa to achieve the envisioned development goals and economic growth paradigms in the President’s National Policy Framework ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’.
Assistant Secretary Thushari Suriyarachchi and Vice-President Manjula Wellalage were also present.