• Pledges to follow father Gamini Dissanayake
• Harsha to be re-nominated by Opposition

While denying that he had any deals with the Government or President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take up the Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition MP Mayantha Dissanayake stated yesterday (27) that he had decided to resign from the post. 

Addressing the media yesterday, Dissanayake further stated: “I did not have any deals with the Government or speak to the President to take up the COPF Chairmanship. I accepted this position to reach a consensus on common grounds. Following discussions with our Leader (a reference to Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa), I have decided to resign as the Chairman of the COPF. I tried to reach the Speaker of the Parliament (Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana) but I couldn’t, therefore, I will hand over the resignation letter to him. I have come to this decision since we have to work on common ground as an Opposition, under the Opposition Leader. These positions are not new to me. Leaving such positions is not difficult for me. I can easily leave it. I want to remind the people that I follow in the footsteps of my father Gamini Dissanayake. 

“Last week, MPs spoke to me. They asked me if I would accept the Chairmanship of the COPF if it is based on a unanimous decision. I would like to remind everyone that in 2015 and 2016, I was a member of the COPF when MP, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran was the first Chairman. When Sumanthiran left for meetings, he would recommend my name to take up the Chair to proceed with the committee sessions. He handed over absolute responsibility to me to carry out the proceedings of the COPF. In my absence, the responsibilities were handed over to another MP. I have fulfilled the responsibilities since then, on behalf of the people, and I have always functioned according to my conscience. 

“I would like to tell those who have been tweeting about this, that regardless of what someone says, the listener should consider what is being said with clarity. The first COPF meeting was held for 10 minutes. I assumed that finance-related bills would come up for consideration, and therefore, I decided to sit and participate in the meeting. If you watch the video of the meeting, you will see me mentioning that only Government MPs were present and that Opposition MPs were not. Therefore, it was clear to me that there was no consensus. I stated at the meeting that unless there is an urgent requirement that needs to be passed and sent to Parliament, we will end the meeting here and will think about and discuss the chairmanship with the Party Leader before coming to a decision on whether to continue in this position in the future.”

When the media queried whether he had been influenced to step down, he added: “There are no such influences. On 24 February, a vote was held and I was chosen to be the Chairman. On 25 February, I considered if there was any agreement within the party. During the weekend, I left Colombo. I was in touch with Premadasa. I informed SJB General Secretary MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara that if there is going to be a split within the party and that if there is no agreement, I am ready to resign from this post.”

Speaking to The Daily Morning, Chief Opposition Whip and SJB MP Attorney Lakshman Kiriella said yesterday, that the Opposition intends to propose SJB MP and former COPF Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva’s name for the post.

Meanwhile, Madduma Bandara stated on 26 February that Dissanayake, who was the then-Chairman of the COPF would resign from his post on 27 February, even though there had not been any official statement by the latter over the weekend stating that he would tender his resignation.

Meanwhile, addressing a media briefing on 26 February, Dr. de Silva said: “We were carrying out duties. It was immediately disrupted. With the agreement of all our party MPs, my name was nominated. But, this was complicated by some papers today stating that some MPs did not agree to that. Total lies. It was with the agreement of all the MPs that the Chief Opposition Whip nominated this name at the Selection Committee.”

The COPF met for the first time on 23 February under the patronage of newly appointed Chairman Dissanayake. Dissanayake was nominated by ruling party MPs.