Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa asserts that Minister Duminda Dissanayake had earlier issued a threat to him to hand over the Chairmanship of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to the incumbent President.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the observation while speaking to Sri Lankans in Japan last evening.
“I don’t say that President Maithripala Sirisena had threatened me, but Duminda Dissanayake urged me to hand over the party leadership. If not, Dissanayake told me, that ‘the government is ours; we know how to take the leadership by taking it to court,’” he said.
“It only took 24-hours for them who came to power to restore the democracy of the country to remove the Prime Minister of a government with two-third majority and to appoint a new Prime Minister whose party had 40 Parliamentary seats,” Rajapaksa said.
Ada Derana made attempts to contact Minister Duminda Dissanayake but was not able to reach him for a comment.
