Three deputy ministers resign

Dr Sudarshani Fernandopulle, Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Eric Prasanna Weerawardena of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party have decided to resign from their respective Deputy Ministerial portfolios. 

Fernandopulle, who served as the Deputy Minister of Research and Higher Education, said that they decided to resign in protest of the recent special statement delivered by President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the Chairman of the SLFP.  

She stated that by declaring in public that he would remain neutral at the General Election and hinting that the UPFA would lose the forthcoming polls, President Sirisena had gravely harmed the election campaign of the SLFP-led UPFA.

Therefore we have submitted our letters of resignation to the President, Dr Fernandopulle told Ada Derana. 

Fernandopulle and Alagiyawanna, who was the Deputy Minister of Rural Economic Affairs, were sworn in before President Maithripala Sirisena on March 22 while Eric Weerawardena took oaths as the Deputy Minister of Ports and Shipping on June 10.