Group of 16 MPs meet Opposition Leader

By Chathuri Dissanayake

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan hailed the move by 16 MPs to leave the Government as a “great window of opportunity” expressing confidence in the group to help move the country forward.

“They are our old friends, and many of them are very senior parliamentarians and persons who command respect in this country. We will work together in the interest of the country,” he told Daily FT, following a meeting with a selection of the dissident group, who now refer to themselves as the “Group of 16.”

Nine of the 16 Parliamentarians who recently resigned from the Government, including Susil Premajayantha, John Seneviratne, S. B. Dissanayake, Thilanga Sumathipala, Dilan Perera, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Chandima Weerakkody, and Tharanath Basnayake sat for the meeting, which lasted close to two hours.Sampanthan, flanked by S. B. Dissanayake on one side and Chandima Weerakkody on the other, commenced the meeting reminiscing over old times when he was in the same delegation as some of the Members now in the Group of 16, to bring Sri Lanka’s grievances to the international fora in Geneva many years ago.

In response to Sampanthan’s query on the presence of media at his office, Sumathipala cheekily replied that the Group of 16 has now got the limelight, as they have become the ‘King Makers’. Sampanthan was quick to follow-up with a compliment of his own, recalling how Premajayantha, a senior in the SLFP, was instrumental in building the career of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who rose from the post of Chief Minister to President of the country within a year’s time. Sampanthan assessed the meeting to be “very successful” with discussions focusing on “a wide variety of issues in the present political situation.”  

“We discussed the circumstances under which they left the Government, resigning their portfolios, the current political developments in the country, future developments in the country and the Constitutional process,” he said.

According to Premajayantha, the meeting was the third in a series undertaken by the Group of 16 SLFPers with all opposition parties to brief on the situation. “We are now in the Opposition and he is the Leader of the Opposition, and we have to work with all the Opposition Parties. We have to get time allocated as well, we have raised that issue with him and he said that hereafter when he summons the Opposition Parties, we will also be given the opportunity.”

The group has already met D. E. W. Gunasekara, Mahinda Rajapaksa and will also meet all other Opposition Parties.

Dayasiri Jayasekara and Thilanga Sumathipala, who are currently embroiled in controversies with different corruption allegations, made a quick exit after the meeting without facing the media.

‘Group of 16’ to work under MR leadership: John Seneviratne

Refusing to be likened to the Joined Opposition (JO), decedent MP Seneviratne said that the Group of 16 has decided to work with them and other opposition parties. However, he said that the Group will work under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership.

Speaking to media outside the Opposition Leader’s office following a two-hour long meeting with Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, Seneviratne said that the Group will work in alliance with all Opposition Parties including the JO, but will remain a separate group. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) senior walked out of the Government with 15 other MPs, after voting against the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during the No-Confidence vote last month.

Susil Premajayantha was also insistent that they will work as an independent group in the Parliament, not align with the JO. Contradicting his colleagues, Dilan Perera, who is also the SLFP party spokesperson, said that the meeting focused on how to work as a group in the Opposition, while still remaining in the SLFP.

Referring to Party reforms set to be launched after June 3, Seneviratne said that they will wait for the decisions.

“A temporary Board will have to be appointed for the Party to go through the restructuring process. The current members will have to resign. This is needed, as there has been public criticism against some of the Party officials and these need to be taken into account,” he told reporters.