Former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now accused Sri Lankan Cricketer Kumar Sangakkara of bypassing the Sports Ministry and Sri Lanka Cricket to deal with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The former Sports minister charged that Sangakkara directly contacted the former President when the cricketer had problems about his presence in the team.

“Therefore, if there was an injustice faced by him, he would have brought that matter to the attention of the former President. That was what he did all along. The interesting question is, why is Sangakkara pointing his finger at us soon after a regime change? I have a serious doubt about his ulterior motives,” the former Sports Minister said in response to the allegations leveled against him and the SLC by Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara.

Sangakkara, in January, sent an email to the Board expressing his dissatisfaction. Sangakkara had got into war of words with Ranatunga in 2013 when the former accused the SLC secretary of tarnishing his image. Sangakkara had played for Sunrisers Hyderabad instead of representing Kandurata Maroons, and Ranatunga had termed the decision as ‘country versus money’ issue.

 But Sangakkara said that he was actually given a written clearance to play for Sunrisers by the national selectors, and that made his walk easier. But Sangakkara slammed former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage for allegedly holding his clearance.

 In the email, Sangakkara wrote: “All I can deduce is that you and all concerned, including Nishantha Ranatunga and Mahindananda Aluthgamage, tried to intentionally cause me embarrassment and tarnish my reputation in the public arena as part of a shameful and corrupt attempt. This is reprehensible but not unexpected from characters such as they."