SLFP says it is still the Opposition

Tuesday, 24 March 2015 00:53 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Jayashika Padmasiri The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) yesterday said that it joined the Government to make the 100-day program a success and push for crucial constitutional and electoral reforms while claiming that the SLFP was still part of the Opposition. Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva, addressing a media conference yesterday, said that according to the Constitution, any Parliamentarian could be offered a ministerial position and that there was nothing wrong with 26 SLFP Parliamentarians being appointed Ministers. He also revealed that two other SLFP Parliamentarians would soon be appointed Ministers shortly. “The SLFP and UNP have two different identities and we will not become one. The decision of entering the National Government was taken to make the 100-day program a success and push for the Government to implement much-needed constitutional and electoral reforms. Now we can present the SLFP views in a better manner within the Cabinet and push the Government to make these changes in the country. The President has given us the freedom to criticise any of the Government’s policies or decisions. Therefore the SLFP is still the main Opposition party and I will remain the Opposition Leader unless the SLFP’s members request a change,” Silva explained. Explaining the background of the SLFP joining the coalition government, Silva said that President Sirisena wanted SLFP support to make his

Cabinet stronger. “Though the SLFP was invited to join the Government our party decided that this decision should be taken up by the SLFP Central Committee, and after talking about this issue at length, everybody in the Central Committee except Parliamentarian Kumara Welgama consented to support a National Government and agreed that President Sirisena’s Cabinet should possess SLFP Ministers. Therefore these appointments were made according to the Constitution and there is nothing which goes against the policies of the party as its consent had been given,” he said. Speaking further he also pointed out that this was not the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that such a political move was taken and that once United National Party (UNP) MP Karu Jayasuriya along with 17 other UNP Parliamentarians also came and joined the existing Government at that time and left again to the UNP. Reacting to various accusations levelled against SLFP MPs regarding the acceptance of ministerial positions, he said that the SLFP members did not accept these positions to gain the material privileges linked to ministerial posts and would refuse all these privileges and only collect the salary due to an MP while working as Ministers. Double dealing Silva accused the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) of “playing a double game because they remained in the National Executive Committee (NEC) and have an office inside Ranil’s premises and then come out from that office and criticise the Government.” “By this move we have not become united with the UNP, we have only accepted certain responsibilities under the National Government concept and put a few of our MPs in the Cabinet to make the 100-day program a success,” Silva said. The Opposition Leader, who had been insisting that the forthcoming election should be held under a new electoral system, at yesterday’s news conference said that now with the SLFP being in the Cabinet they could form a new electoral system which would have a Parliamentarian for every electorate and that soon after that duty was fulfilled the SLFP would not mind the Parliament being dissolved. “We will consent to the dissolution of Parliament soon after constitutional and electoral reforms are implemented. At the pace things are happening sometimes it could take about 200 days to implement the 100-day program. The SLFP will only support the good actions of the National Government and criticise and oppose all its wrongdoings as we did with the Central Bank issue and concerning John Amaratunga, and today as a result of our criticism the President has stopped all police transfers. In that manner, if the UNP fails to bring the electoral reforms now, one of our Cabinet Ministers can bring those amendments,” he added. Commenting on the 19 Amendment Draft Bill, Silva said that the SLFP believed that more changes were required to this amendment and that through constructive criticism they hoped to make a better Constitution. “The 19 Amendment Draft Bill is not complete as there are things that need to be removed, added and changed in this Bill as the draft that has been gazetted does not include certain changes that were highlighted by party leaders during discussions concerning the 19 Amendment. Nevertheless, to a certain extent it is a commendable draft though it requires a few changes. However, through constructive criticism we will make this Bill better and it is only under those conditions that we will support it. And we believe that a decision will be taken within a week’s time regarding electoral reforms,” he said. Meanwhile, General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, who was also present at the media conference, said that most senior members of the SLFP did not accept ministerial positions though they were invited because they were occupied with work related to the forthcoming election. The SLFP also said that they would make a proposal today in Parliament to prevent political revenge taking place in society.