SLPP lawyers want Basil in Parliament and Cabinet

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Lawyers’ Association has requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to bring former Minister Basil Rajapaksa to Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers.

The SLPP Lawyer’s Association members who held a press conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute yesterday said Basil Rajapaksa’s entry into Parliament and the Cabinet will help the country move in the right direction.

The Association’s Secretary, Attorney Athula De Silva said their countrywide membership of lawyers exceeding more than 1,500 with representation in all provinces, including the Northern and the Eastern provinces, have conveyed to President Rajapaksa that Basil Rajapaksa should play a role that enhances the responsibilities of Executive and Legislative branches of the government.

SLPP Lawyers’ Association President, President’s Counsel W. Dayaratne said Basil Rajapaksa’s statesmanship and the ability to hold fast unto long-term and broad-based economic development plans had seen the country through economic crises in the past.

PC Dayaratne recalled that the country had achieved an economic growth of over 7 per cent during the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government when Basil Rajapaksa was Economic Development Minister.

“He achieved remarkable structural changes in the country’s economy and made Sri Lanka one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia,” Dayaratne said.