No-Confidence Motion 'drama' in House
 The faction of the UPFA parliamentarians which is enacting a 'drama'
to bring a No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe again called for an early date to debate it in
Parliament. The No-Confidence Motion carrying eight allegations against
the Prime Minister had been included in the Parliament Order Book on
Thursday. The Premier responding to the UPFA rebel MPs proposed two
alternatives; either to go for the No-Confidence debate or dissolve
Parliament and go for a general election. He said that the Government
was ready to go for an election at any time.
No-Confidence Motion
The No-Confidence Motion came to light on the Floor of the House
following a privilege issue raised by UPFA parliamentarian Dinesh
Gunawardena on a controversial statement by Deputy Foreign Minister
Ajith P. Perera who had told the media that the MPs who had signed the
Motion were to withdraw it. MP Gunawardena who categorically rejected
the Deputy Minister's claim said that such a false statement would
mislead the public and it amounted to a breach of privilege. He told the
House that this issue was not even discussed when UPFA MPs not in the
Government met President Maithripala Sirisena. The MP who was critical
of the irresponsible conduct on the part of the Deputy Minister said
that Parliament would become a laughing stock if he continued to act in
such a manner.
MP Gunawardena's Privilege issue took different turn when Leader of
the House and Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella said that
some of those Mps who had signed the No-Confidence Motion had met him at
night. Amidst the interruptions by Opposition members, Minister Kiriella
said some MPs who came to his residence had told him that their
signatures had been obtained by force. He said that the Government was
not afraid of the No-Confidence Motion by a group of Opposition MPs. The
Minister told the Opposition members that they had lost the people's
confidence at the last Presidential election. He queried as to where in
the world a group of losers should bring a No-Confidence Motions?
Hot topic
The issue finally turned into a hot topic when several leading
Opposition MPs who moved the No-Confidence Motion also expressed their
views on the subject. UPFA MP Bandula Gunawardena asked Minister
Kiriella to tell those MPs visiting him at night to act according to
their conscience when the Motion is taken up for vote. The Prime
Minister countering the views expressed by the Opposition members told
the House that there was no violation of privileges in the matter raised
by MP Dinesh Gunawardena. He said when a privilege matter is raised, it
should be presented before the House and debated or go for a vote on it.
Minister Kiriella asked MP Gunawardena to decide whether he wanted
the 20th Amendment or to dissolve Parliament. This led to an uproar in
the House. When the Minister first called upon the MPs who wanted the
20th Amendment to stand up and later those who needed to dissolve
Parliament, none of the MPs responded to the Minister's call. Finally,
Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa told the House in lighter vein that both the
Government and the Opposition members were reluctant to dissolve
Parliament and go for a general election.
Since the Opposition had given priority for the No-Confidence
Motions, Minister Kiriella told Parliament on Thursday that it was
decided to debate the No-Confidence Motion against Finance Minister Ravi
Karunanayake on July 4. Responding to MP Dinesh Gunawardena's request to
fix a date next week, The Minister said the Government would allocate
the dates that it wished and not the dates acceptable to the Opposition.
Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva on Thursday expressing
serious concern, inquired from the government whether Foreign Minister
Mangala Samaraweera had obtained prior permission from the President,
the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to initiate talks with the members of
Global Tamil Forum, a banned pro-LTTE terrorist group in London. Making
a special statement he told the House that the objective of the meeting
was to lift the ban on Tamil Diaspora organisations proscribed by a
special Gazette notification dated March 21, 2014 and urge the Sri
Lankan Government to take action against the alleged war crimes.
Global Tamil Forum
Foreign Minister Samaraweera said that the Government would adopt its
own local mechanism to investigate war crimes. He said Section 93 of
President Maithripala Sirisena's election manifesto had clearly stated
that it would not permit any international investigation but devise an
indigenous mechanism for the purpose and do so. Before Minister
Samaraweera began his speech, Minister Kiriella drew the attention of
the Deputy Chairman of Committees Murugesu Chandrakumar who presided
that there were no Opposition members in Parliament as everybody had
gone to Matara to attend the Bring-back-Mahinda rally. The only
Opposition MP in the Chamber was MP D.E.W.Gunasekara.
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