President Rajapaksa paid CWC Chief Thondaman Rs. 7.5 million as a goodwill gesture to re-join jumbo cabinet!

By: Jagdish Rao, Chennai, (Special Correspondent, Sri Lanka Guardian)

(October, 12, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) News coming from sources within President Rajapakse's circles reveals that a sum of Rs. 7.5 million in cash was handed over to the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Chief Thondaman as a good-will gesture to coerce him into re-joining the Cabinet in support of the Rajapakse led administration.

It is said that this money was paid to the CWC to re-iterate that there were no hard feelings between the Rajapakse's and the CWC over the recent altercation between Basil Rohana Rajapakse and members of the CWC in presence of their leader Thondaman recently which led to the temporary resignation of CWC leader Thondaman as a Cabinet Minister along with his colleagues.

Bribing amongst the Rajapakse family is nothing new and this sum of money paid to the CWC is pittance compared to the Rs. 500 Million that was paid to the LTTE so that the LTTE would force the Tamil population under their control to boycott the Presidential elections in 2005.

When CWC representatives were contacted they denied the payment received from President Rajapakse, "well that would be quite an obvious answer wouldn't it" said a senior Presidential aide.