Former Minister of Higher Education and SLFP Parliamentarian S B Dissanayake said that he has no ‘personal disputes’ with former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Speaking to a vernacular newspaper, Dissanayake said that former President Kumaratunga’s experience is a ‘great strength’ to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. This was the first interview he gave to media after the recently concluded presidential election. 

“It is true that there were small problems due to our political views, but I have no personal disputes with our former President Kumaratunga”, Dissanayake said.

Dissanayake, who was a staunch supporter of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during a Presidential Election rally, remarked that former President Kumaratunga should be “stripped naked and chased along a road” for supporting the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

Dissanayake’s controversial remark was massively criticized by the members of the common opposition.

However, Dissanayake expressed his gratitude to President Maithripala Sirisena for allowing both former Presidents Rajapaksa and Kumaratunga to remain in the party. Dissanayake was the same person who used obscene language to castigate Sirisena during a full-scale press conference in Colombo