President will decide our fate - Weerakkody

Vocational Training and Skills Development Minister Chandima Weerakkody said they are ever willing to forfeit their ministerial portfolios at any time. They have communicated this orally and in writing to the President who is the leader of their party.

Speaking to the media after attending a ceremony held in Galle on April 7, Weerakkody said it is the President who will decide whether they will remain ministers in the Cabinet or relinquish office to become ordinary MPs. Others who were vociferous about the matter cannot make a decision about their status.

He said that they voted in favour of the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in keeping with public opinion after complete disregard of their positions. They had to take that stand as politicians elected by the people’s mandate. As a person who secured the largest member of preferential votes from the Galle District, he had a duty to bow his head to public opinion and vote in favour of the No-Confidence Motion.

They have given only a bit of their mind during the NCM debate. They would come out with the balance if anyone brought a No-Confidence Motion in Parliament against those who voted for the NCM against the Prime Minister. He would also challenge those who demand a UNP-only government to show how they would set about it and face the consequences, the minister said.

Weerakkody said they were completely against intimidating media institutions to celebrate a shaky victory achieved in Parliament by moving a few heads here and there on various ruses.