It is reported that it was President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who stopped Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s budget speech midway on the 12th.
Giving a hand gesture, the president instructed the Speaker to adjourn the House during the Budget speech for a period of 10 minutes from 3.30 pm onwards.
The President took this step after Minister Douglas Devananda, who was close to the then President and Prime Minister, observed that Basil Rajapaksa was reading the budget with great difficulty.
Basil was seated in the same row as the President, the Prime Minister and Pavithra who was seated on the right, but they did not notice Basil’s difficulty as he was sitting parallel to them.
After the speech was stopped, the ministers took Basil to the President’s office
It is said that as soon as the House was adjourned, several ministers close to the President had taken Basil to the President’s office in Parliament.
Measures were also taken to summon the parliament medical staff to the president’s office.
They had examined Basil and ruled that he had faced this situation due to excessive fatigue.
Accordingly, Basil was give medication at that moment.
Kabir was the first to notice Basil’s difficulty; But Dhammika had not responded despite being told
It is said that the first person to notice Basil Rajapaksa reading the budget with difficulty was SJB-MP Kabir Hashim who was sitting opposite him.
However, when he had told Parliamentary Secretary Dhammika to notify the Speaker to stop the budget speech as Basil was speaking with difficulty, he had not paid any attention.