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| Sunday, 20 October 2002 |
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'Alternative govt.' idea spurned : Minority parties back UNF by S. Selvakumar The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the Tamil National Alliance and the Ceylon Workers' Congress yesterday expressed their firm support to the Government and dismissed Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse's statement at a press conference on Friday, that the People's Alliance was ready to form an alternative government in the event the United National Front seeking a dissolution of Parliament and a general election. Rauf Hakeem, leader of the SLMC dismissed the statement as "nonsense". He said that there is no benefit to the Muslim community by toppling the government and added that the Muslims will have their fair share of devolution once the process was successfully negotiated. Describing Rajapakse's statement as "opportunistic", Hakeem said that the Muslims could not expect any benefit from a JVP, MEP and SLFP coalition. Tamil National Alliance spokesman and Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan, while, praising the government's peace efforts said that his organisation stood firmly behind the Government and would not do anything to damage the peace process. "We are convinced that the Government is aiming to successfully negotiate for peace with the LTTE and we will support the government in its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the ethnic conflict," Mr. Sampanthan added. CWC leader Arumugan Thondaman was abroad yesterday and could not be contacted but well informed CWC sources said that their thinking was that the government was genuine in finding a solution to the ethnic conflict and that the CWC would wholeheartedly support the government. At Friday's press briefing Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse said that the PA is ready to form an alternative government at any hour and added that the PA is discussing the issue with opposition parties. He cited the recent boycott of Parliament by some SLMC members and also CWC leader Arumugan Thondaman's a recent statement where he has said that in the event of a general election the CWC would later decide on which party it would contest. Rajapakse cited these developments in support of his proposal for an alternative government. But he did not refer to the 15 member strong Tamil National Alliance Parliamentary Group that stands committed to the peace process and in support of the government's efforts to find a solution to the ethnic process. Rajapakse said that the alternative government is constitutional but the PA is in no hurry to form a government. |
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