The top rung of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) vowed that the No Confidence Motion (NCM) against their leader Rishad Bathiudeen will be defeated, and Minister Bathiudeen will emerge victorious.
They say the membership of recently arrested Dr. Seigu Saafi (Kurunegala Hospital) was removed from their Party. They insist that the political opposition is making false allegations in the NCM against Minister Bathiudeen on “an anti-ACMC agenda”.
“Dr Shafi is not a member of ACMC. The ACMC has only five MPs. Dr. Shafi had left our party after we let him go,” said ACMC Lawyer Rushdy Habib at a special press briefing at the SLFI, Colombo 7.
The press briefing held on May 30 focused on clarifying some issues raised by the NCM brought against ACMC Leader and Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.
“Dr. Shafi received a high number of votes in Kurunegala, but since ACMC list had only five MPs in Parliament and he was the sixth, he was removed from the ACMC membership and added to the UNP list. Therefore, we have no associations with him now,” said Lawyer Habib. “With regard to the arrest of former Provincial Council MP Rifkan Bathiudeen, the issue has been raised whether he, after the arrest, having obtained a statement, was then released without producing to Courts. During a round-up operation, he too was questioned just as any other individual coming under their search. He was questioned about his vehicle as well. But he was not arrested since there was nothing suspicious with him or about the vehicle.
“Rifkhan was only questioned during the search since in any roundup, everyone is questioned-even if they round up a judicial official, he too will be questioned; that is the routine of a roundup. But some media reported that Rifkhan was “arrested and then released”, which was false and wrong.” Former ACMC MP (PC) P Jayathilleke said the two villages in Welioya in the Northern Province was under LTTE control from 1983 to 2009.
“The Chief Buddhist monks of the two temples in these villages already testified about Minister Bathiudeen’s support to their temples. Their Buddhist temples were constructed with the help of Minister Bathiudeen. Some other Buddhist temples in the area did not even have toilet facilities for the use of venerable monks and it was Minister Bathiudeen who provided such facilities to them, as testified by the two Chief monks.
“Also the allegations made against Minister Bathiudeen in the NCM are baseless. To-date no single person has filed a complaint with the Police or gone to Courts against Minister Bathiudeen on any one of these 10 accusations in the NCM, which proves the NCM accusations are baseless, and politically motivated.
“They are exacting political revenge since Minister Bathiudeen did not extend his support to them during the 52-day coup in 2018. Even we ourselves insist that if Minister Bathiudeen is guilty on any of these allegations, that he should be punished. But we are against making mere allegations against Minister Bathiudeen just for political gains and on an ‘anti-ACMC agenda’.
Add new comment