Just weeks after President Mahinda Rajapakse announced that the SLFP did not belong to one single family, his brother Basil Rajapakse was appointed as a National List MP to fill the vacancy created by the death of Non Cabinet Irrigation Minister Anwer Ismail. Basil’s name was dispatched to UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayanth Monday to be sent for nomination as an MP by the Elections Commissioner.

Third Musketeer

Basil will oversee the big bucks portfolio of nation building now under the purview of President Rajapakse. There are five other non cabinet ministers for nation building — Jagath Pushpakumara, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, S.M.Chandrasena, Gunaratne Weerakoon and D.M. Dassanayake. However it has been Basil who has hitherto overseen the subjects coming under this Ministry. But political insiders believe it is the Foreign Ministry that Basil Rajapakse will eventually take as his official portfolio.

The government currently has 117 MPs of which some 107 are ministers. The Rajapakse family will now have three of their members in cabinet while the brothers collectively will control nearly 80 percent of the country’s wealth. The Rajapakse’s in the last count had up to 138 close family members in crucial government positions.

With speculation that President Rajapakse has been systematically setting the stage for political succession in the backdrop of his son Namal Rajapakse also making moves into the political arena, the Basil Rajapakse nomination will perhaps cause a few ripples in the SLFP polity.

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