President Maithripala Sirisena had under no circumstance agreed to reconvene Parliament on November 7 and Parliament would be reconvened only on November 16, unless the President decides to do it earlier, said UPFA Parliamentarian Mahindananda Aluthgamage addressing a media briefing at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.
He said a request was made from Temple Trees on Thursday for all UNP members to come to Parliament yesterday at 9 a.m. to hold a meeting with the Speaker and show numbers in order to pressure him to convene Parliament before the 16th using his powers.
“They had also notified all their district organizers to light crackers in their areas by 11 am. “Accordingly, crackers were lit in every district as instructed.
This was to break the mental spirit of the MPs who were scheduled to take oaths last evening as ministers by fabricating numbers, in an attempt to scare them and prevent them from joining Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.”
“Although they have given inflated numbers, according to the count of the Sergeant at Arms, the actual number that attended today’s meeting was 107. Of them 14 were from the JVP and TNA. Only 93 of them were from the UNP and UNF. The TNA and the JVP clearly stated that they were supporting the attempt to convene Parliament and most certainly did not state that they were supporting Ranil Wickremesinghe to remain as Prime Minister,” he noted.
Aluthgamage said MP Rishad Bathiudeen, Estate sector MP’s and Rauff Hakeem’s party too were there to call for Parliament to be convened at the earliest and at no stage did they pledge their support to Ranil Wickremesinghe. “Hence, in reality only 78 of the 93 who were there were actual UNPers. Six of the UNP members had not come for the Parliament meeting. A group of UNP members had gone to the homes of several of the UNP members who crossed over and worshipped them requesting them to come to Parliament yesterday, but they had not done so.”
The very next day after Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as the Prime Minister, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had written to the Attorney General seeking his advice at 10.15 am and by 10.51, the AG had responded and replied” he said, adding that it was a clear indication that the AG did not even have to refer legal manuals and that is why he responded immediately as the process was in accordance with the Constitution.
He pointed out that even Ranil Wickremesinghe did not show up at Parliament yesterday as he realizes that he must leave Temple Trees, but a group of parasites were holding him back.
According to Aluthgamage, the UPFA would bring a large gathering to the Parliament roundabout to show the public support they have. By now SLFP/UPFA LG members, PC members and MPs have organized over 5,100 busses to bring the crowds to Colombo. All other parties in our coalition will also join us to bring a massive crowd to Colombo.
Meanwhile, UPFA parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa, hinting that more crossovers were scheduled to take place said despite some of them attending Parliament last morning, they would be standing with the UPFA by evening.
“After Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the Prime Minister, the stock market became active and even the rupee would stabilize. Many positive changes are visible and this Parliament meeting was convened last morning just to try and destabilize that success.”
He also warned that Patali Champika Ranawaka would have to answer to charges of misuse of public property for having entered a ministry that he has no authority over. He had made a quick speech and fled the premises. Weerawansa assured that this government under the leadership of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa would forge ahead and no one can stop or obstruct that path.
Expressing his views at the media briefing, UPFA Parliamentarian Dilan Perera said that Ranil Wickremesinghe is always doing the wrong thing. “If Wickremesinghe had a problem with the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister, then he should have filed a petition in the Supreme Court, but he did not do that because he too knows that it was not done in an unconstitutional manner. Instead he went whining to foreign diplomats begging for their assistance. If they need to oust the new prime Minister, there are only two methods to do so. One is by bringing a no confidence motion against him and have it passed by a majority after debate. However, even if he manages to oust the new PM, that does not mean he automatically becomes the PM. Again, thereafter it is the President who can appoint another person. Secondly they can defeat the vote of account, but sadly the ones who are most afraid to go for an election is the UNP. As they cannot win either way, they are just holding up this Parliament and majority slogan to satisfy themselves.”
He noted that Wickremesinghe and his group are conspiring to topple the new government and this is an unlawful act. “This is a major conspiracy against the Government and they may get some international support. However this is wrong and illegal. Hence, we urge the UNP members to at least now realize this mistake and join the right side. In the future Ranil Wickremesinghe would not even hold the Opposition Leader’s post.”