Aggrieved Sumathipala begins battle and swears to oust Dharmadasa brothers from nestling at SLC
Parliamentarian Thilanga Sumathipala yesterday swore to shove out the Dharmadasa brothers Upali and Jayantha from cricket administration as he charged that the whole process of electing a president at an Executive Committee Meeting was all wrong and not in accordance with the Constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
A veteran cricket administrator, Sumathipala declared that an emergency Executive Committee meeting is held only to elect a vice president, treasurer or an assistant secretary.
His jibes came a day after SLC announced it had nominated Jayanatha Dharmadasa as the next president of cricket administration after his (Sumathipala’s) candidacy was rejected on the report of a probe commission set up by sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
“I have the strength to face any problem thrown at me and I will continue to fight legitimately. I will fight on until I chase the Dharmadasa brothers out of Sri Lanka Cricket as they are the most unsuitable people to govern cricket,” declared a staunch Sumathipala.
“Now they have appointed a person who had problems with the Stock Exchange and had to pay Rs.3.3 million as a fine,” said Sumathipala.
Sumathipala said he was in a quandary regarding the manner in which his nomination for the top post of president was thrown out and what was more disturbing to him was that he had not seen the contents of the report that called for his nomination rejection.
“There were three issues of allegations and objections against my application for presidency of SLC. I provided proof of my non-involvement with the media, betting industry and the sale of sports goods. These letters were obtained from the Department of Registrar of Companies who has stated that their (Sumathipala) names do not appear in any of those companies,” said Sumathipala as he showed what he said were documents to that effect.
“Instead of supporting my cause to stand at elections as eligible the committee of inquiry threw out my application. I knew about my nomination not been accepted only through the media,” said Sumathipala.
“I have not done anything wrong. I have done so much to develop cricket in Sri Lanka. I have built cricket stadiums, grounds for training young players, practice pitches in the outstations for children to practice and I have never supplied cricket equipment to Sri Lanka Cricket at any time,” added Sumathipala.
“I appeal to the people involved to re-consider the process of following the Constitution (to appoint Jayantha Dharmadasa) and conduct the election of office bearers. This will solve many problems now ailing SLC and run the affairs in a peaceful manner,” said Sumathipala.
