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If SLFP leaves, Government will lose 50-60 MPs

02 Dec 2021

 
  • Mahinda Amaraweera says then Govt. would not even have simple majority
  • Says no decision taken yet to leave Govt.
  BY Buddhika Samaraweera Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Vice President and Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has warned that if the SLFP decides to leave the Government at some point, between 50 to 60 MPs from the SLFP, several other political parties, and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) would be ready to leave the Government. “Those who ask the SLFP to leave the Government didn’t criticise us initially. They first criticised people like Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila, Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa, and Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Then they started criticising the SLFP. They have told about 30 MPs to leave now. But it is a known fact that when these 30 MPs leave the Government, a group from the SLPP will also leave,” he claimed, adding that between 50 to 60 MPs will leave the Government at such a point. Amaraweera said that let alone a two-thirds majority, the Government would then not even have a simple majority.  Speaking to the media after attending the SLFP’s Central Committee (CC) meeting which was held yesterday (2) at the party headquarters in Colombo, he also said that the SLPP Government Group, calling on the SLFP and several others to leave the Government, was carrying out a conspiracy to weaken President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and added that he hoped that the President would take action against them. “The President should be concerned about this because it is a conspiracy to weaken him,” he claimed. However, he said that no decision was taken at yesterday’s meeting of the SLFP Central Committee regarding leaving the Government, adding that the SLFP Parliamentary Group would, however, agree with any decision taken by the party’s Central Committee. “We have made it clear that we are ready to step down from the ministerial posts whenever the party decides to leave the Government. We agree with any decision taken by the Party Central Committee and our positions are not at all an obstacle to that. The party is more important to us than the posts,” he said. He stated that the SLFP has no interest in destabilising the President and the Government which was elected with the support of the SLFP. “At present, we don’t want to destabilise the President and the Government. We are trying to rectify the shortcomings of the Government,” he added. He added that the SLFP would not allow SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, UNP Leader and Parliamentarian Ranil Wickremesinghe, or anyone else to capitalise on any decision made by it in the future to leave the Government. “We have no interest in strengthening the UNP, the SJB, or any other political party. If we leave the SLPP-led Government, we will not join the UNP, the SJB, or any other party.”


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