At a time when that old warhorse called Ambassador is finding fewer takers among Indians, who seem to prefer the flashier, sleeker and much more expensive Hondas, Fords and Opels, a minister in the new Sri Lankan Government has decided to do the unthinkable for politicians of this tiny island nation - import two Ambassador cars for his personal use.

'I have done that as a symbolic gesture, and part of my own approach to the political culture here, because the ministers in Sri Lanka have always used BMWs, Mercedeses and Volvos. The cars have already arrived and are in the port,” Mr. Milinda Moragoda, Minister for Economic Reforms and Information Technology told Business line in an interview.

Being a prominent businessman, this Harvard-educated man has seen it all. 'As a private sector man, I was myself driving in a BMW. But I feel that Sri Lanka has lived far beyond its means, right from Independence I guess, but particularly in the last 10-15 years.”

Mr. Moragoda is convinced that Sri Lanka can learn many a lesson from India, be it in economic reforms, IT or the official white Ambassador.

'Look at your Ministers. Don’t they use the Hindustan Ambassador cars? But here we’ve had Ministers airlifting BMWs.”

Interestingly, the trading company he started a few years ago had focused on importing Indian products and he was the first to get Maruti cars into the country. 'Maruti cars continue to be popular here,” he says.

With his induction into the Government and preoccupation with politics, he is not able to run the company.

On whether more Ambassador cars from India will be imported for his Ministry, or if other ministers would follow his example, he said, 'Let’s see. It’s for others to decide. I don’t want to impose anything on anybody. This has to do with my campaign too, because I had said that in a country with enormous economic problems, how come our President spends nearly Rs. 1 billion on a palace which she is building and our former Speaker (her brother) has spent Rs. 200 million with a swimming pool and other luxuries?”

A big challenge before the new Government and its ministers is the worry that 'we too might fall into a similar situation when we move into Government, as we will also be inheriting these kinds of luxuries.”

Mr Moragoda belongs to Colombo district, and his campaign was totally unconventional. 'People thought I could not win. The interactive campaign now brings in about 100 e-mail messages a day. The campaign built up a lot of hope for change and now people want to know what you are doing.”