Rajapaksa hits back at Kumaratunga for remarks in Indian media

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has hit back at predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga for carrying out a personal attack on him through Indian media, saying it is “incongruous” as she ran “one of the most repressive governments in living memory”.

In a statement posted on his website yesterday, Rajapaksa said he much regretted Kumaratunga’s comments, and that as former leader of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and current member of its Central Committee and co-Patron, what she tells the foreign media during trips, “reflects on our party and our country”.

He reacted strongly to Kumaratunga’s remarks in media interactions during her recent visit to India that she had difficulties in looking around for a party front ranker to contest against him because “it was difficult to find anyone in the SLFP who wasn’t known to be corrupt or a murderer”.

“...it is incongruous for Mrs Kumaratunga to be talking of a police state because she ran one of the most repressive governments in living memory,” he wrote.

Rajapaksa hit back, saying when he took over as President from Kumaratunga in 2005 ending her 11-year rule, “terrorists were ruling about a third of the country”.

“For more than a decade, the country had seen very little development. During my tenure, I am proud to say that I concentrated on solving the country’s problems. I saw to it that terrorism was eliminated and that the country was developed,” said the 69-year-old former strongman.