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Sri Lanka Freedom Party – Mahajana Wing leader Mangala Samaraweera MP said that it was shameful to issue a currency note with the picture of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on it. That had been done by the Central Bank while a Presidential or General election was on the cards, he said.
Nowhere in the world were currency notes printed with the picture of a political leader while they were still alive, Samaraweera said adding that only in a monarchy either the king’s or the queen’s picture was printed on currency notes.
Addressing a press conference at the party head office in Rajagiriya, Samaraweera said that his party would request the Elections Commissioner to stop the circulation of the newly printed Rs.1,000 notes with President’s picture since an election was in the offing.
The Matara District MP said that the only currency note with a political leader’s picture was that of former Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. But it had been issued after his demise. Even in the US there were pictures of former presidents on the dollar notes. But, the picture of President Rajapaksa on a currency note was shameful as it had been done as part of his propaganda for future elections.
