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| Friday, 10 September 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| Lokuge's diatribe no surprise, says Anura Industry, Tourism and Investment promotion Minister Anura Bandaranaike responding to a recent charge levelled against him by former Tourism Minister Gamini Lokuge of misusing tourism funds, said he was not surprised by the MP's diatribe given the shock suffered by his predecessor from his sudden fall from power. "I have only sympathy for Gamini Lokuge's acute mental depression. Lokuge's belated political diatribe is pathetic for a former Minister who having thought merrily that he will rule for six years, until he was jerked out of his comfortable Ministerial seat, and dumped in the opposition benches in the most ignominious manner," Bandaranaike said. To add insult to injury, Lokuge, a veteran UNP politician, came third in his own constituency of Kesbewa, way behind the Alliance and the Hela Urumaya. "This extreme and sudden fall from power must be a severe shock to an ageing, half past six politician, whose days are clearly numbered," he said. Bandaranaike said as a politician and a senior Cabinet Minister, he was proud to be able to give a 70 per cent salary increase to all employees of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board in a matter of four months adding that Lokuge, the self-proclaimed messiah of the Trade Unions, could not achieve it in the two long years he was Minister of Tourism. |
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