UPFA minority parties want Nimal out

Tuesday, 31 March 2015 02:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Jayashika Padmasiri Several minority parties representing the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) yesterday said that they will operate as independent political parties while remaining in the UPFA and rejecting the leadership of the current Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva. National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader MP Wimal Weerawansa addressing a press conference yesterday in Colombo said that they have collected 58 signatures of parliamentarians opposing the leadership of the present Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva while requesting the speaker to instead appoint the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Leader Dinesh Gunawardena as the Opposition Leader.

“We will hand over this document consisting 58 signatures, representing various political parties in the opposition, to the Speaker soon. What we have today is a very extraordinary Government: from one election they have appointed the President, Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. So we ask is this the dictatorship regime or the previous regime? So what is the name that we are going to give this Government that owns all of these positions? Is this democracy and ‘good governance’?” Weerawansa questioned. Commenting further, he criticised the conduct of the Government while saying that the authorities are releasing LTTE cadres on bail while trying to trap people who served the country and helped to end the war. “Today Ranil has robbed the Prime Ministerial post. They removed the Chief Justice, then appointed another CJ instead and appointed an Opposition Leader. All of these steps are implemented from one election. Therefore, if Ranil wants to become the Prime Minister then they should have an election after 23 April and win a mandate and ethically appoint Ranil as the Premier. However, if they fail to dissolve the Government by 23 April we will initiate a series of rallies on 25 April against the Government. It is the Government that said they will dissolve the parliament after 23 April not us,” Weerawansa said. Meanwhile, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara addressing the media said they will be operating as independent political parties of the UPFA while rejecting the leadership of Nimal Siripala de Silva as the Opposition Leader and that they have already informed the Speaker about this decision. Speaking about their May Day celebrations for this year, Nanayakkara added that they have invited all political parties and trade unions to become part of their May Day rally while hoping that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would also join them. Western Provincial Councillor Udaya Gammanpila of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) and a representative of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna were also present at the press briefing. Meanwhile, another set of political parties such as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) are backing Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan for the post of the Opposition Leader while claiming that the TNA has the highest number of MPs in the Opposition.