Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa said that party members and others had misinterpreted his ‘appachchi mala’ comment regarding former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Following the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2015 Presidential Election and Maithripala Sirisena’s appointment as SLFP Chairman, Zoysa had claimed that “Appachchi was dead”. This controversial remark attracted harsh criticism from the Rajapaksa supporters.

“What I meant from ‘malaa’ (dead) was that it was a beginning of a new journey, and not death literally,” Zoysa claimed at a recent meeting.

Zoysa also said that those who misinterpreted his statement claimed that he was planning to join the UNP. They brainwashed the people against me and made me lose the election, he claimed. “Some of the people who made these statements have joined the government and have become Ministers now”, Zoysa also observed.