Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday withheld a private member’s motion in Parliament brought by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake yesterday, seeking to prevent the President and the Prime Minister from holding any Cabinet portfolio. The motion was opposed by government MPs.

Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardane was the first to oppose the motion being taken up for debate, saying ‘the conduct of the President’ could not be discussed or debated in Parliament according to  Standing Order 78.

Countering Mr. Gunawardane’s argument, DNA parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake pointed out the motion did not seek to discuss the conduct of the President at all.

“We intend to discuss this as a policy matter. It does not affect the conduct of the President. On earlier occasions too, we have debated the executive presidency in the House,”   he said. (Read More)

Government Member of Parliament and former UNP member Navin Dissanayake, in a live interview with Daily Mirror online, questioned the stance taken by the UNP working committee so as not to remove UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe despite having the authority to do so.

Dissanayake noted that the internal democratic structure of the party allows anybody to get up in the working committee and ask Mr. Wickremesinghe to step down and question him  as to why the current working committee is not exercising that right.“Technically if you look at the working committee, they can very well ask Mr. Wickremesinghe to leave. The fact that they have not done  raises a question mark as to how far the working committee will want  him to leave.(Read More)

The TNA yesterday urged the government to immediately release all persons detained without charges.

TNA Parliamentary Group leader R. Sampanthan, making a special statement in Parliament, said that a distinction should be drawn between the persons against whom there was no evidence or whose involvement in the LTTE was purely peripheral and those against whom there was evidence that they were involved in terrorist activities.

"We urge that the government take all possible action to release people who were being held without charges being pressed against them. The government could grant a general amnesty to others as had been done in the past. The fate of the missing persons should be revealed and if they were dead, death certificates should be issued and their families duly compensated. War affected families widows and orphans needed to be looked after, he said.(Read More)

The JVP yesterday threatened to take to the streets if the government goes ahead and signs the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India.

JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti charged that the Government, despite several requests by Opposition parties, has still not revealed the contents of the CEPA.

"We demanded that the Government reveal the contents of CEPA in Parliament and requested a debate," he said adding that however the chief government whip Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had blocked it.

Handunnetti said that Indian vehicles, drugs, foods, motorbikes and electrical goods have already invaded the Sri Lankan market and the situation would worsen if the CEPA is signed. (Read More)

The JVP yesterday urged the government to immediately reveal to the country the proposed Constitutional reforms instead of resorting to undemocratic and underhand tactics.JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told a news conference that speculation was rife about the government’s plan to introduce Constitutional amendments soon.

“Speculation is also rife that President Mahinda Rajapaksa intends to discuss these matters with Indian leaders during his visit to New Delhi. However, the people of Sri Lanka should know about the amendments before anyone else does. Therefore, we urge the government to place these proposals before the country first,” Mr. Silva said. (Read More)

SLFP (M) Leader Mangala Samaraweera told Parliament yesterday that the proposed second chamber would be another white elephant.

Speaking during the Emergency Debate in the House yesterday, Samaraweera said the proposed Senate is something that is being designed to satisfy those who are not given National List slots in the Parliament.

“This would not be an effective solution to the national issue,” he said stressing the need for a wider devolution of power.

He said recommendations made by the Parliamentary select committee on the 17th Amendment of the Constitution headed by Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera should be implemented instead of the government proposal of selecting members to the commissions by the President, Prime Minister and the Speaker. “Minister Gunasekera had done a good job coming up with some effective solution to resolve the crisis pertaining to the 17th Amendment. (Read More)

The UNP Reforms Committee has proposed that the party leader should no longer have the authority to appoint all members of the party Working Committee.

Media Spokesman of the UNP, Gayantha Karunathillake MP, addressing a news conference in Colombo, said that the Reforms Committee headed by Joseph Michael Perera MP, had suggested that the number of Working Committee members be reduced from 99 to 86 and only 20 of them be appointed by the leader. The other 66 members, it had been proposed, should include a representative from each district and the various organisations within the party. (Read more)

The JVP yesterday said that the country is in an economic mess and it is getting worse day by day due to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government’s corrupt administration and bad economic policies.

Speaking to the press at the party head office in Pelawatta, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that according to the Central Bank report for 2009, all products and earning of the country had decreased while local and foreign borrowings of the government increased.

"Tea exports had decreased by 9.1 per cent compared with 2008. According to the Central Bank report, the country has exported 318 million Kgs in 2008 but it had reduced to 289 million in 2009. Tea is the main export crop in Sri Lanka and now the industry is under threat," he said.

Silva said the annual coconut production was 2,909 million nuts in 2008, but it had reduced by 147 millions in 2009 and only 2,762 million nuts were produced.(Read More)

CHENNAI: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi here and discussed the issue of rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils living in transit camps there.

The meeting came on a day when Karunanidhi wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to take up the issue with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse during his upcoming visit to India.

After the 15-minute meeting at Karunanidhi’s residence tonight, Chidambaram told reporters that the DMK chief asked him to take up the Sri Lankan Tamils issue with the Prime Minister.(Read More)