Former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera has warned Arjuna Ranatunga to keep his mouth shut or watch what he says following some disparaging remarks the former World Cup winning captain said about him.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Jayasekera said that he could come out with much more about Ranatunga and his brothers which he claimed the country is not aware of unless he stops making allegations about him that he said cannot be proved.
“Please allow me to do my politics and don’t drag me into anything. I can come out with more about you (Arjuna)”, Jayasekera told reporters at a crowded Press conference.
He was responding to Ranatunga who said at a public function that Jayasekera will very soon be branded alongside match-fixers and illegal bookies and that he (Jayasekera) was responsible for the current state that Sri Lanka cricket has fallen into.
“This government has degraded cricket and Dayasiri (Jayasekera) should be responsible for that. People will call Dayasiri as Bukisiri because of his Bukipala stories”, Ranatunga said at what was a welfare programme called “Temple and Village” held at the Katunayake Walana temple last week.
Ranatunga also alleged that Jayasekera allowed illegal bookies and gamblers to enter cricket.
But Jayasekera countered Ranatunga. “It is Arjuna who is the traitor”, said Jayaskera. “He held a Press conference on the eve of the World Cup final of 2011 in India and said Sri Lanka who were to play against India in the final will not be able to win. This was a World Cup winning captain who ran down the players and demoralized them before the final.
“As a matter of fact Arjuna does not like Sri Lanka winning another World Cup as it will overshadow the one that he lifted. He is that kind of a man”, added Jayasekera.
To the claim that Jayasekera was a close ally of Thilanga Sumathipala whom Ranatunga had been directly and indirectly branding a bookie, Jayasekera said it was Ranatunga who brought Sumathipala into the cricket set-up and wined and dined with him when they were close friends.
“I knew Thilanga (Sumathipala) only recently but Arjuna is the one who introduced him to cricket administration and ate and drank with him at parties and restaurants. They were friends from their school days. Was he (Arjuna) that ignorant not to realize that Thilanga was not involved in the gambling industry”, said Jayasekera.