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By Nuwan Senarathna
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday called on President Maithripala Sirisena to act according to the Constitution while upholding the democracy of the country.
The appointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister last week has resulted in the hopes of 6.2 million voters who elected Maithripala Sirisena as the President in 2015 being broken, JVP leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said during a rally held in Nugegoda.
Dissanayake pointed out that the appointment of Rajapaksa as the Premier of the country was a “political conspiracy” and urged the public to defeat any efforts that hindered democracy from functioning effectively in Sri Lanka.
“Under a democracy, people have the right to appoint a new Government according to their mandate, but whatever happened on 26 October was not the mandate of the public. Therefore, we cannot call it a democratic action taken by President Sirisena.”
Dissanayake charged that the decision to appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister in 2015 after the Presidential election also violated the Constitution as the United National Party (UNP) only had 46 seats in Parliament at that moment.
“Both the UNP and United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have been using the Constitution of this country to fulfil their needs to remain in power by bringing Amendments to the Constitution,” he added.
He alleged that MPs had changed their political parties over money offered by both parties to remain in power for decades and that this is the latest in such efforts.
“They are using black money to get the support of MPs, and some of the MPs had formed a group and decided ask for a fixed rate of Rs. 500 million to change their party to support the new appointment in Parliament.”
Dissanayake requested the public to reject the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, stating it was a violation of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. “The newly appointed Cabinet does not hold any moral values as it was appointed without ascertaining the public mandate.”
“The public should not recognise Maithripala Sirisena as the President of Sri Lanka anymore as he has abandoned the public mandate that elected him as President of this country in 2015. Ranil Wickremesinghe has also abandoned the mandate by being yet another corrupt politician.”
He alleged that Wickremesinghe was involved in the Bond scam, which was revealed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCol), eventually leading to damaging the Yahapalanaya mandate of 2015. “People voted in 2015 to put corrupt people and politicians in prison but unfortunately, those very people became tainted with corruption allegations.”
Dissanayake also said any party’s internal democracy reflects the way that particular party plans to uphold democracy in the country. He also pointed out that the public should not expect anything from President Maithripala Sirisena anymore, stating he had violated public trust.
He asserted a new political era is needed for Sri Lanka to uphold the rule of law and democracy with the participation of the public, civil society groups and professionals. The JVP was ready to take the lead to guide the nation to a new era with the support of other parties and would expect to join hands with other left wing political parties in this endeavour, he said.
Pix Upul Abayasekara
