A furious Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge came out strongly to announce that he is willing at anytime to counter the allegations ousted SLC Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga made in Parliament on Thursday.

“I am the one who appointed and I am the one who also sacked him. But, now he is claiming that he was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, if it is so then let him go and ask the President for redress. At anytime I am willing to provide the answers regarding his sacking if there is a debate in parliament,” the minister said.

Arjuna Ranatunga	Gamini Lokuge

He said Ranatunga made his allegations only last Thursday and asked why the ousted IC chief during his tenure of one year did not take action against those whom he named in parliament.

“Ever since I sacked Ranatunga, I also have been following media reports about the issue. If I had taken the wrong decision or a hugely unpopular decision, it would have been highlighted in the media, but up to date I am yet to read even one article that criticized my decision to sack Ranatunga,” Minister Lokuge said..

On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s world cup winning captain Ranatunga, a UPFA MP from the Colombo District, charged in Parliament that Sports Minister Lokuge had failed to take action against persons responsible for the fraudulent Taj TV deal.

Ranatunga told the House in a special statement that he always worked against malpractice, injustice and corruption as the chairman of the Cricket Interim Committee, yet the Minister eventually removed him from office instead of taking action against wrong doers. A copy of the letter of removal was tabled in Parliament by him.

Ranatunga said the chief executive officer facing allegations in connection with the TV deal still continued to serve in his position.

Indian tour almost through

Now with the relationship improving between the BCCI and SLC, the short five ODI tour between India and Sri Lanka is almost certain to take place during the first two weeks of February. “Everything is almost through; only the itinerary is pending,” a senior SLC official told The Sunday Times.

Further, speaking about the prospective Indian tour of Sri Lanka, C.E.O Mendis said “Even the tour organizing committee is not a big question. To be very frank, it is the job of the marketing division of the SLC, and the moment we get the green-light we will put them into action.”

The relationship between the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket hit an all-time low as a result of statements made by Ranatunga as IC chief. The Indian board saw these statements and some of his moves as anti-India.

It is also learnt that a new Cricket Interim Committee will be appointed by Sports Minister Lokuge by Thursday and it will be headed by a person who had been an Interim Committee member before.
SLC media manager asked to pull his socks up

Sri Lanka Cricket Media Manager Shane Fernando has been given orders by the new management either to pull his socks up or quit.

Commenting on the matter CEO Duleep Mendis said “Once we asked him to resign as we found that his presence at the board very irregular and what urgently we need is a person to handle that post in a professional manner. We have now requested him to either work on an eight hour basis or quit”.