The Cabinet reshuffle for those representing the UPFA was delayed due to several ministers having flown overseas, SLFP General Secretary Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake yesterday said. “The delayed reshuffle will take place within the next two weeks,” he also said.
Minister Dissanayake also said if the reshuffle took place at the same time it would have been proper and methodical.
However, a delay of the reshuffle would have caused unnecessary troubles since President Maithripala Sirisena had promised to reshuffle the Cabinet at the earliest possible date.
“The date was set for last Sunday. However, several ministers had to go abroad for official and otherwise reasons. We couldn’t reshuffle half the UPFA ministers. So we postponed it for another two weeks and did the changes only to the UNP representatives,” Minister Dissanayake pointed out.
Asked if the SLFP is happy with the Cabinet reshuffle, Minister Dissanayake explained that they forwarded several proposals prior to the Cabinet reshuffle and most of them were accepted. Thus, he said the SLFP is relatively happy with the reshuffle.
Asked if Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna are to reach an understanding, SLFP General Secretary Minister Dissanayake said they could always come to an understanding following a discussion. “The problem here is that there are several persons who are accused of corruption in the SLPP. We cannot avoid these corruption allegations just because we are getting back together. We need to come to an agreement about these persons. Otherwise we have no issue receiving the SLPP supporters back into our party,” he said.