Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has more support than he had in the presidential elections and should be elected as the prime minister to save the country, said the former defence secretary Gotobaya Rajapaksa, noting that 100,000 people had been rendered jobless since the new government was elected.  

Speaking in an interview with the New Indian Express, Gotobaya called on president Sirisena to call parliamentary elections and appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister to “save the country.”

Accusing the new government of stalling economic progress and development, Gotobaya said,

“All economic development projects initiated by the Rajapaksa government have been brought to a standstill. In the construction sector alone, over 100,000 workers have been rendered jobless.”

The former defence secretary went on to argue that the Rajapaksa regime was the only regime to deliver Sri Lanka "results."

“Sarath Fonseka claimed in India that he won the war. But I say, he was in the army for 30 years, but had failed to win the war. It was only when we (the Rajapaksa brothers) took over, that the war was finished, and that too, in three years flat. Chandrika Kumaratunga claims that she had won 75 percent of the war, but it was during her Presidency that there were major reverses," he added.

Growth in Sri Lanka unsustainable due to structural barriers to competitive markets says World Bank  (18 Apr 2015)