2010-02-27
A journalist affiliated to a popular weekly newspaper told Lanka News Web that Presidential Media Unit Director General Mahinda Illeperuma had informed the editor of his newspaper on Thursday (25) morning that publicity should not be given to any news item related to government ministers without the knowledge of the Presidential Secretariat and that it was a Presidential directive.

Illepruma had also said the Presidential Secretariat would provide a list of names of governing party candidates who need to be given publicity during the campaign period and that news items related to them would be
handed out to the media by the Secretariat on a daily basis.

The Presidential Secretariat has already launched an operation to sideline senior ministers who could hamper the chances of Basil Rajapaksa being appointed as Prime Minister after the general election. Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and Maithripala Sirisena have already been sidelined as a result.