{"id":36407,"date":"2014-12-20T18:50:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T23:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36407"},"modified":"2014-12-21T00:14:53","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T05:14:53","slug":"minnallightningand-idithunderat-temple-trees-as-minister-rishad-bathiuddin-and-sri-ranga-engage-in-fisticuffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36407","title":{"rendered":"“Minnal” (lightning) and “Idi” (thunder) at “Temple Trees” as Minister Rishad Bathiuddin and Sri Ranga MP Engage in Fisticuffs."},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of a hectic schedule addressing election rallies in the South, President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to \u2018Temple Trees\u2019 last Monday evening.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SR<\/a><\/p>\n

There he sat down to a discussion with Deputy Minister Muthu Sivalingam and Central Provincial Councillor Senthil Thondaman. The Ceylon Workers Congress duo was meeting Rajapaksa to urge that an interview be granted to Tamil Nadu\u2019s Thanthi television network ahead of the presidential election. He agreed and the recording took place at \u2018Temple Trees\u2019 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n


\nWhen the discussion was under way, T. Sri Ranga, a parliamentarian elected on the UNP ticket and now supporting the UPFA Government walked in to offer some unsolicited advice. He pointed to places where cameras and lights should be placed and how Rajapaksa should face them. He later withdrew.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rajapaksa was visibly tired after addressing a string of election rallies. He told aides that he needed to rest and withdrew to the Janadipathi Mandiraya (Presidential Palace) in Fort. It was past 1 a.m. when a phone call woke him up. At the other end was Sri Ranga. He complained that he was assaulted by Minister Rishad Bathiuddin whilst he was at \u2018Temple Trees\u2019. An angry Rajapaksa queried whether that was the time to talk about the matter and declared he would go into it in the morning.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It transpired that Sri Ranga had arrived at \u2018Temple Trees\u2019 in the company of H.M.M. Harees, a Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) parliamentarian from the Ampara District. They had been at the dining table chatting with others present. The duo had just finished dinner from a daily buffet at the southern end of a spacious hall. It was a few minutes to midnight when Minister Bathiuddin, leader of the All Ceylon People\u2019s Congress (ACPC) clad in a light green T-shirt, came near the dining area. <\/p>\n

He was accompanied by Y.L.S. Hameed, party secretary and Ameer Ali who is the latest MP to be sworn in on the National List. The trio were armed with a Memorandum of Understanding they hoped to sign with the UPFA Government.<\/p>\n

ACPC leader Bathiuddin announced earlier that the party would support the UPFA Government. Bathiuddin is known to be the main figure behind the launch this week of a Tamil newspaper (merging the existing Navamani), a radio and a television station for Muslims. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa was the chief guest at the launching ceremony where the guest of honour was Karu Jayasuriya, senior UNP parliamentarian.<\/p>\n

Substantial funding for the project has come from the World Muslim Congress in Saudi Arabia. There is little doubt that the licenses issued for the new media outfits were a factor that influenced the ACPC to remain in the UPFA and support it.<\/p>\n

An eye witness said Bathiuddin was incensed when he saw Sri Ranga seated near the dining table. He turned to Gamini Senarath, Chief of Staff at the Presidential Secretariat, who was then having his dinner and told him not to entertain people who were \u201clowly\u201d. He used some strong language. A verbal duel ensued. Sri Ranga charged that Minister Bathiuddin has had a recent meeting with Mangala Samaraweera at the Kotte residence of UNP Assistant Leader Ravi Karunanayake. <\/p>\n

He claimed he had conveyed this to President Rajapaksa too. However, Karunanayake told the Sunday Times \u201cthere is absolutely no truth in that claim. On no occasion has Bathiuddin come to my residence.\u201d An enraged Bathiuddin alleged that Sri Ranga was \u201cspoiling\u201d the name of the President, his son Namal and added \u201cmey aanduwa nanattara venney moo nisai (It is because of him that the Government would be left high and dry)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Angered by the many remarks Bathiuddin made, Sri Ranga thrust forward towards the Minister. One eye witness said he received two slaps on his face. Sri Ranga retaliated in defence. Senarath and others present intervened to separate the two.<\/p>\n

By Tuesday morning, Rajapaksa had obtained a complete debrief of the incident both from his security staff and those present. He tried to reach Bathiuddin by phone but he was unavailable. The Minister was also a notable absentee when Rajapaksa travelled to Mullaitivu to address an election rally on Thursday. Sri Ranga has not been seen at \u2018Temple Trees\u2019 since then.<\/p>\n

However, for the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)\u2019s beleaguered leader Rauff Hakeem, the incident came as acute embarrassment. His party\u2019s negotiations with the UPFA leadership were at a delicate stage and here was one of his parliamentarians acting on his own without clearance.
\n
\nCourtesy: Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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At the end of a hectic schedule addressing election rallies in the South, President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to \u2018Temple Trees\u2019 last Monday evening. There he sat down to a discussion with Deputy Minister Muthu Sivalingam and Central Provincial Councillor Senthil Thondaman. The Ceylon Workers Congress duo was meeting Rajapaksa to urge that an interview be …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“Minnal” (lightning) and “Idi” (thunder) at “Temple Trees” as Minister Rishad Bathiuddin and Sri Ranga MP Engage in Fisticuffs.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36407"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36417,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36407\/revisions\/36417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}