No-confidence motion against Ravi likely next week

Head table from Left: Dalas Alahapperuma, Udaya Gammanpila, Prof. G.L Pieris, Bandula Gunawardane, Wasudewa Nanayakkara and Prof. Tissa Witharana at the joint opposition media briefing yesterday.

Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

The opposition is considering submitting a no-confidence motion against Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake next week.

United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) member of Parliament Dullas Alahapperuma said that Karunanayake had presented the 2016 budget in Parliament when there were allegations of fraud against him.

He also denied claims that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had agreed to support the budget as a party.

Alahapperuma said that SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake had misled the media by claiming President Maithripala Sirisena had told the SLFP to back the budget.

Alahapperuma, an SLFP member, said that he had raised his concerns with President Maithripala Sirisena over the statements made to the media by Dissanayake on the SLFP stand on the budget.

He said that the President also agreed that the statements were misleading and that he would raise the issue with Dissanayake. (Colombo Gazette)