When President Anura Kumara was in opposition, he was a strong critic of Krishan Balendra, John Keells Chairman.
The reason for this was the handover of a Colombo Port Terminal project to his company. However, after Anura became a presidential candidate, the John Keells chairman participated in the business summits of Anura.
After Anura became president, representing the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, he formed a close relationship with Anura. John Keells imports Chinese-made BYD vehicles to Sri Lanka.
BYD has now become the most widely sold vehicle in Sri Lanka. It is surpassing Japanese and Indian vehicles. John Keells is also developing a terminal of the Colombo Port with Adani, a prominent Indian businessman. Anura Kumara once alleged that John Keells and Adani were given a port terminal through the intervention of Milinda Moragoda, a former minister and former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, who is a relative of the John Keells chairman.
Pathfinder Foundation is owned by Milinda Moragoda. Although Prime Minister Harini was invited to a seminar held there recently, she did not attend.
The latest project of John Keells is the City of Dreams Casino Project. Recently, the NPP government lifted the ban on importing certain machines used for casinos. Informed sources say that Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan is scheduled to participate in the opening of the City of Dreams Casino Project.
In 2004, Shah Rukh Khan came to Sri Lanka to promote Sri Lankan tourism at the invitation of the then Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike. Thousands of people attended. But something unexpected happened. A bomb attack was launched targeting Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan was not harmed. The bomb attack on Shah Rukh Khan was carried out by a group of Sinhala extremists. The government accused the Jathika Hela Urumaya of being responsible for the bomb attack.
After about 20 years, there are rumors that Shah Rukh Khan will visit Sri Lanka again. John Keells is carrying out this casino project in partnership with an Indian company. The Indian company must be coordinating Shah Rukh Khan’s visit to Sri Lanka.
When Shah Rukh Khan came to Sri Lanka in 2004, Sri Lanka had an SLFP-JVP coalition government. Anura Kumara Dissanayake and current Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath were powerful ministers in that government. Shah Rukh Khan comes to Sri Lanka today, when Anura Kumara is the president and a JVP government is ruling the country.
In the midst of the 2015 presidential election, another Indian superstar, Salman Khan, came to Sri Lanka. That was to indirectly support Mahinda. However, the opposition accused Mahinda of spending a huge amount of money to bring Salman, which was a disadvantage for Mahinda. It is impossible to say how well the people of Sri Lanka receive Shah Rukh’s visit.
