JVP raps President again for crisis

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday charged that President Maithripala Sirisena was the root cause of the current political crisis in the country.

Listing out reasons for not participating in the party leaders meeting yesterday, Dissanayake said: “As a party we have decided not to participate in that discussion chaired by President Sirisena and we will submit a comprehensive letter to him pointing out our reasons for doing so. President Sirisena is the one and only reason for the political instability we are witnessing in the country today.” 

Speaking to the media, the JVP leader said there was no point in President Sirisena and the JVP discussing the political instability of the country.

“The only option left for the President was to appoint a new Prime Minister and Cabinet to avoid more chaos in the country,” Dissanayake emphasised.

“President Sirisena is the main reason for all chaos seen in the country today. The only discussion that he is left to have is with his conscience and his responsibilities rather than having a discussion with the JVP or other political parties,” he added.

Appointing a new Prime Minister in a political coup on 26 October and appointing a purported Cabinet, proroguing the Parliament to create space to negotiate with MPs to join a new Government and when the attempt failed dissolving the Parliament and finally disregarding two no confidence motions that were rightfully passed in the Parliament with the majority were outlined as key reasons by JVP leader for not participating at the party leaders meeting yesterday.

Dissanayake insisted that President Sirisena was at fault for all his decisions and actions taken since 26 October to-date.

Acknowledging that there are many philosophies and theories being applied on the parliamentary procedures that were followed in the past few days, particularly in terms of passing the no confidence motion against parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa and the purported Cabinet, he asserted that everything was done according to the Constitution as well as in line with parliamentary procedures.

“There are a huge disagreements on the no confidence motion that was passed with the majority in Parliament. We have all the evidence to prove that the two motions were passed rightfully, in line with the Constitution and parliamentary procedures,” he said.

Pointing out that they had rightfully followed the procedure to pass the no confidence motion, avoiding Standing Order 27 (3) while implementing Standing Order 135 instead, which allows to decide and finalise a special matter.  “The Standing Order 27 (3) allows to go for a long procedure in terms of a no confidence motion. We first brought Standing Order 23 (3) which was moved by TNA MP Sumanthiran which was seconded by JVP MP Vijitha Herath. So the Parliament started working without Standing Order 27 (3) on 14 and 16 November,” he explained. The JVP Leader also said that no one had the authority to challenge the Standing Orders of the Parliament, not even the President.

“The President is behaving like a mentally imbalanced person and we cannot help that. President Sirisena is bound to protect the Constitution. He has no right to interfere in Parliament operations and procedures. The President has not been given any authority to question the parliamentary procedures or its operations,” he stated. He said that they were all ready for a debate but because it was interrupted by the purported Government it was withheld, where the Speaker took a vote.  

Noting that the voice vote was allowed through Standing Order 47 (1), he cited a few examples where it was applied before in the Parliament such as in 2010 with the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and with the RTI Bill.

“We wanted to take the vote by name because we knew that there are many MPs within the party who don’t like Mahinda Rajapaksa in person. There were many absent ministers during the past few days. They are not coming or will come to Parliament,” he pointed out.

Dissanayake said that with the no confidence motion being passed with a majority, the purported government had been dispersed, noting that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya was absolutely correct in informing the Parliament that there was no Prime Minister or Ministers, Deputy Ministers or State Ministers.  

“Now according to 48 (2) of the Constitution, the President has to appoint a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet. The President needs to understand his responsibilities and act accordingly without dragging this mess any further,” he stated.

He said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had given the right decision and followed procedure.  “The final decision about Parliament’s operations are with the Speaker. If they are saying that the Speaker is biased then they can bring a no confidence motion against him via a Standing Order.”

The JVP leader also said that the Rajapaksa camp was doing everything possible to hold on to power because they were very worried that many of their court cases were going to be heard soon. 

According to him, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Gamini Senerath, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Basil Rajapaksa, Johnston Fernando and Mahindananda Aluthgamage have many cases against them.

“No wonder they are so desperate to come back to power, so that they can defend themselves. President Sirisena is protecting the mastermind of these goons and murderers, intentionally allying or unintentionally,” he stressed.

When asked if the JVP was in favour of Parliament being dissolved legally and a general election being called, Dissanayake emphasised that they were keen to agree to that proposal.

“This change of heads within the Parliament will only make it a joke. We are in the view that we need to go for a proper election but not through a political coup, not bypassing Constitution or in illegal manner. If no party is ready to propose a fresh election, JVP will do so, but first we need to do away with this illegal purported government,” he added.

On a sad note, Dissanayake said right now there were no honourable Members in Parliament and it was the duty of the general public to appoint sensible people that will do something for the country. 

“There are no public representatives anymore. Many of the Cabinet ministers are brokers of companies,” he stated.