Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said that he has no secret agreement with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Appearing at the live ITN ‘Sathyagaraya’ program Thursday night, Wickremesinghe asked how he can have such an agreement after working together with a number of groups to topple the former regime.

Wickremesinghe said that Rajapaksa introduced a new political culture of ‘hero worship’ but did not achieve anything during the last five years. He governed through slogans, Wickremesinghe stressed. This political culture has to be changed, the Prime Minister added.

Certain quarters, even within the government, had frequently accused Wickremesinghe on soft-pedaling on investigations on close associates of Rajapaksa, with the motive of promoting him so that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party breaks into pro-Rajapaksa and pro-Sirisena camps.