Rajitha: Six SLFP Ministers will be axed before Avurudu

A new Cabinet of Ministers would be appointed before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday in Colombo.

Fielding questions during the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Information Department, Senaratne said the six SLFP ministers who had voted for the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament last week, would not be included in the new Cabinet.

Emphasising that there would be no reshuffle of ministries, Senaratne said President Maithripala Sirisena would swear in a new Cabinet, which would include replacements for the six SLFP Ministers who had backed the no-faith motion by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

The six SLFP Ministers to be removed from the Cabinet, Senaratne said, were Susil Premajayantha, S. B. Dissanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera, W. D. J. Seneviratne, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Chandima Weerakkody. “They would be replaced by six other SLFP MPs.”

Senaratne said most of the current Ministers would remain in their positions but the subjects allocated had been determined scientifically with a view to eliminating duplication of functions.

The national unity government had been formed on a mandate given by the people at the last presidential and general elections, Senaratne noted, adding that since it was the first of its kind in this country, there were bound to be issues, but that did not mean the concept could be abandoned unless the masses decided otherwise.