Five in ... instead of four gone out

Five in ... instead of four gone out ....

Minister portfolios to Lakshman, Ranjith, Hemal, Pandu, Chandrasiri

Instead of the SLFP Ministers who resigned from

their positions of Minister, several former other Ministers were sworn in this afternoon as Ministers of the new government.

As such, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena was given the Minister position in the Cabinet, Hemal Gunasekera, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Pandu Bandaranayaka were offered State Ministerial posts while Chandrasiri Sooriyaarachchi was bestowed a Deputy Minister portfolio. Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena took his oaths as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pandu Bandaranayaka as Minister of State Administration and Democratic Rule, Hemal Gunasekera as State Minister of Housing and Samurdhi and Chandrasiri Sooriyaarachchi as the Deputy Minister of Lands, in the presence of the President.

These persons who say that they had given their consent as they had received invitations to attend this swearing in ceremony and all the same some of them had in the past are those who worked in close affinity towards Mahinda Rajapaksa. On questions posed by the media, they had mentioned that whatever political opinions are, because they respect the leadership of the Party they are bound to accept that request.