Parliamentarian Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena yesterday said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is engaged in a desperate attempt to destabilise Parliament and the country, as he wishes to be the common candidate of the UNF.
He said the Speaker is attempting to implement the UNP’s agenda in Parliament with a mala fide intention of becoming the common candidate of the UNF for the next Presidential Election.
“The madness over the common candidacy had destabilised the country and Parliament too.
The conduct of the Speaker is an obstacle to the government’s programme to provide relief to the people at the grassroots,” he said.
Parliamentarian Navin Dissanayake had earlier announced that a UNP member would contest the next Presidential Election and later he said that the UNF will put forth a common candidate for the election.
Yapa Abeywardena said the ruling party members staged a walk out in protest of the Speaker’s decision with regard to the composition of the Select Committee which disregarded decades-old tradition.The Parliament of Sri Lanka had a tradition of appointing the majority of members from the ruling party to the Select Committee and it has been the practice for decades.
Seven out of 12 members of the Select Committee are appointed from political parties representing the ruling party as a tradition, Yapa Abeywardena said.
Speaking at a press conference in Battaramulla yesterday, Yapa Abeywardena added that the Parliament Select Committee comprised seven members from the ruling party when the number of members representing the ruling party was only 41 in 2015.
He added that the Speaker adopted a novel method when the vote on the composition of the Parliament Select Committee was taken.
“The Speaker tried to increase the number of Parliamentarians supporting the Opposition after the vote was over. He waited for over 10 minutes until more members supported the Opposition,” Yapa Abeywardena said.
He said that this was an unprecedented move by the Speaker.
Yapa Abeywardena added that this vote was taken only for the appointment of the Select Committee. The vote taken for the appointment of the Select Committee does not show that former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has the majority in Parliament.
“If the UNP really wants to show that Wickremesinghe has majority in Parliament, they should show it by giving the affidavits of 113 members,” he said.
He added that the UNP-led Opposition always tried to show their majority when a vote is taken on other matters such as No-Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister and vote on the composition on the Parliament Select Committee.
“They show reluctance to express support for former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with affidavits,” he said.
Yapa Abeywardena added that the Speaker agreed to follow the President’s instructions first, but later deviated from instructions at the behest of several diplomatic missions based in Colombo.
from daily news