Nimal Siripala blasts UNP for deception

Thursday, 23 April 2015 02:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Chamodi Gunawardana Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday alleged that the United National Party (UNP) was trying to abuse SLFP votes to pass the 19th Amendment in Parliament, expecting to deceive the SLFP. “The UNP was saying the SLFP would not vote for the 19A in order to defeat it, but Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and a group of conspirers who are backing him want to defeat the 19A in Parliament because of their own interests. If we ask something or state our opinions against the 19A, Ranil says we can wait without voting. We would like to ask Ranil whether he wants to see this bill fail or if he wants it passed. We deny all accusations levelled by the UNP against the SLFP about our votes on 19A,” de Silva said. He added: “We believe that 19A is incomplete without electoral reforms. We would never vote for 19A without electoral reforms and the UNP needs SLFP votes to achieve the two-thirds.” Focusing on the ‘Yahapalana’ 100 day-plan, Silva claimed the Government had failed to introduce key political reforms. “The ‘Yahapalana’ Government hasn’t been able to work and deliver on promises that it gave the public within 100 days. The given time is now over,” the Opposition Leader emphasised. Commenting on former President Mahinda Rajapaksa being summoned by the Bribery Commission, de Silva stated that Government should learn to show more respect to former leaders. “The Bribery Commission has the power to summon anyone, but inquiries should be held in a proper manner; they must follow the tradition of the country. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe blamed us that we are trying to shield the accused. This is not true,” de Silva said. He also said that the three-member committee tasked to probe the Treasury Bond fiasco hadn’t come out with proper facts. “Our position is that Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran is responsible and he should be removed. However, we will give our fullest support to continue the investigations,” the Opposition Leader added. SLFP’s National Organiser Susil Premajayantha said that the party’s proposal was the best, irrespective of whether it was a majority party or a minority party. “Under our proposal, 165 MPs should be selected to Parliament through the First Past the Post system, 66 MPs through the Preferential System and another 24 MPs from the National List. Subsequently, the number of MPs in Parliament would be 255. We believe the Government will hold the forthcoming election under this new system,” Premajayantha added.