Easy to win general elections than SLC election, says Arjuna

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga commenting on yesterdays election defeat said that it was easy to win a general election than an SLC election because of the mafia involvement at SLC elections.

Upto Saturday night we were assured of 90 votes from the membership but something had gone wrong overnight. This cricket mafia has to be stopped and the only way to do it is to change the constitution, said Ranatunga. Explaining what this cricket mafia was Ranatunga stated that buying of votes was one of them although it cannot be proved.

A good example is I won a parliament seat contesting with three different parties but in cricket you cannot do that because of the cricket mafia,†he said. I dont blame the membership for our defeat. I thought I come forward and serve the game but if the membership doesn't want me it is the cricket that will suffer.

Ranatunga stated that it would be interesting to see who will represent Sri Lanka at future ICC meetings.

He also blamed the Director-General of Sports K.D.S. Ruwanchandra for not being fair by all in accepting nominations and that he would seek legal opinion before taking the next step. As a government official the way the Director-General has acted is rather disappointing. It is not good for the government to have such officials, Ranatunga said. [ST]