Shanakiyan highlights need to address national political question

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka need to address the national political question to have a proper economy in this country, TNA’s Batticaloa MP Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam told Parliament recently during the budget debate.

He said: “The budget for 2021 has been presented and we observe that there is a deficit in this Budget which is far more than the country’s revenue.

“For the last 75 years, budgets have been presented in this House and since the late 1970s, I think all the budgets have had a large allocation for defense because of an unresolved ethnic conflict.

“I think that is one of the main reasons why we have such a major deficit in our budget and we are trillions and trillions of rupees in debt right now.

“To have a proper economy in this country, I think, first of all, we need to address the national political question.

“If not, this country will not have a budget surplus in the near future.

“I do not think it can be done by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa or any other president unless this ethnic conflict is resolved.

“As you are aware, as the TNA, today we go before the international community, we go to all the countries and the only thing that we lobby for is a political solution and justice for our people.

“However, imagine the amount of investments that we can bring into this country if we go lobbying for investments on behalf of this country,” said the MP.