COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's ruling party has urged President Maithripala Sirisena to sack Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe for criticising the government's USD 1.1 billion deal with China to develop the strategic Hambantota port.
Sri Lanka on July 29 signed the deal to sell a 70-per cent stake in the port to a state-run Chinese firm, a move that could raise security concerns in India.
Rajapakshe was accused of violating collective responsibility at the United National Party (UNP) working committee meeting held last week.
He was asked to correct his statement which was critical of the government's deal with China, but he did not respond positively to the request.
Rajapakshe was quoted as saying that the port deal was the betrayal of the country's sovereignty and he would make sure that the port is taken back from China.
UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim said the UNP has requested Sirisena to remove Rajapakshe form the Cabinet.
Under the 99-year lease agreement, China's state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings is to invest up to USD 1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.
The accumulated loss from the port was more than USD 300 million and the money realised from deal will set off the debts owed to China, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had said.
Rajapakshe, who is also the minister in charge of the Buddhist order, was previously accused of aiding and abetting an extremist Buddhist monk who was promoting violence against the Muslim minority.
The UNP has also charged that Rajapakshe as the Minister of Justice had hampered the investigations against the family of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose nearly a decadelong rule was ended by Sirisena in 2015.
The UNP said that investigations against former strongman Rajapaksa and his followers on alleged misdeeds had taken over two and a half years, and Rajapakshe was responsible for deliberate slowing down of investigations.
Rajapakshe denied the accusation, saying it was not proper for the government to interfere in the judiciary.