{"id":73560,"date":"2021-07-08T21:56:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T02:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=73560"},"modified":"2021-07-08T21:56:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T02:56:14","slug":"current-economic-public-health-and-governance-crisis-is-so-profound-that-it-is-beyond-the-capacity-of-a-skillful-political-and-economic-deal-maker-like-basil-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=73560","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCurrent economic, public health and governance crisis is so profound that it is beyond the capacity of a skillful Political and Economic deal maker like Basil Rajapaksa\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, was on Thursday sworn in as Sri Lanka\u2019s Minister of Finance, becoming the fourth Rajapaksa brother and fifth member of the first family to enter the Cabinet.<\/p>\n

The eldest of the brothers, Chamal Rajapaksa, is a Cabinet Minister, as is Namal Rajapaksa, son of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa\u2019s son Shasheendra Rajapaksa is a non-cabinet minister. <\/p>\n

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa\u2019s appointment, enabled by the resignation of a government MP and Sri Lanka\u2019s national list system \u2013 through which political parties get extra seats to Parliament based on their vote share \u2013 comes at a crucial time for the Rajapaksa administration that is facing an unprecedented economic challenge, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. His entry was also made possible by the government removing a constitutional provision barring dual citizens \u2014 Mr. Basil Rajapaksa is also an American citizen \u2014 from entering Parliament.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa took charge of the Finance Ministry, helmed until now by Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was on Thursday allocated the newly-created portfolio of Economic Policies and Planning.<\/p>\n

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, who served as a Presidential Advisor and Minister for Economic Development in the former Mahinda Rajapaksa administrations, was arrested in 2015 following allegations of corruption and later released on bail. In November 2020, he was acquitted in the case.<\/p>\n

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa is credited with building the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People\u2019s Front), the new political vehicle for the Rajapaksas\u2019 return to power in 2019. As chief strategist, it was Mr. Basil Rajapaksa who crafted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s campaign in the presidential poll of 2019 and ensured the party\u2019s landslide victory in the August 2020 general elections.<\/p>\n

\u2018Crisis beyond deal maker\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

For observers in Sri Lanka, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa\u2019s entry into government is no surprise. \u201cThis was expected, it was only a matter of time,\u201d said political scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda, adding: \u201cHe was anyway one of the major powers behind the scenes for the last two years.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Rajapaksa government has a \u201ctriple crisis\u201d to manage, he said, pointing to the \u201ceconomic, public health and governance crisis\u201d. \u201cIf you look at the drama and media hype created around his entry, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa is projected as a saviour, a sort of miracle man. Just like they did when they put forward Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the presidential candidate,\u201d Prof. Uyangoda recalled. <\/p>\n

In his view, although Mr. Basil Rajapaksa has a reputation of being a \u201ceconomic and political dealmaker\u201d, the current crisis defies those skills. \u201cThis crisis is so profound that it is beyond the capacity of a skillful deal maker,\u201d Prof. Uyangoda said.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, was on Thursday sworn in as Sri Lanka\u2019s Minister of Finance, becoming the fourth Rajapaksa brother and fifth member of the first family to enter the Cabinet. The eldest of the brothers, Chamal Rajapaksa, is a Cabinet Minister, as is …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘\u201cCurrent economic, public health and governance crisis is so profound that it is beyond the capacity of a skillful Political and Economic deal maker like Basil Rajapaksa\u201d’ »<\/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\/73560"}],"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=73560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73562,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73560\/revisions\/73562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}