Felix responds to Anura: Politics not a bed of roses

Manjula Fernando and Uditha Kumarasinghe

KOTTE: Fisheries Minister Felix Perera yesterday questioned the need for a Parliament statement by National Heritage Minister Anura Bandaranaike over an issue of anonymous telephone calls received by him.

The Minister said he has faced numerous hardships being a politician and almost everyone of them had been subject to such threatening calls at one time or another .

“Politics is never a bed of roses,” the Minister said adding that it was regrettable and peculiar to note that Bandaranaike was under the impression that Government leaders were behind these calls.

“Should a veteran politician get worked up over a mere phone call,” he questioned adding that Bandaranaike was seeing a storm in a tea cup.

He said it was strange that the Minister thought it was necessary to make a Parliamentary statement over this issue.

The Minister said the Sri Lanka Freedom Party should not be treated like a Company where its shareholders claim automatic right to leadership.

He condemned the move to pull the rug from under the President’s feet at a time he was putting his policies into implementation.

The Bandaranaike family ruled this country for 47 years- unprecedented anywhere in the world, the Minister said adding however that it was Mahinda Rajapaksa who hailed from the village who changed this trend.

He said in the context where the people clamoured for a change in leadership of the party and the country it was only but proper that the preferred leader be allowed to function without impediment.

The Minister noted that there was no leader in the country when the tsunami struck and it was left to Mahinda Rajapaksa to even convey this message adding that Anura Bandaranaike returned to the country only after three months since the catastrophe.

“Now he is shedding crocodile tears. His statement is both regrettable and humorous,” he added.