JVP slams JO for dull NCM effort

By Skandha Gunasekara

Chief Opposition Whip JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake charged that the No-Confidence Motion was a political ploy and not a real attempt to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“This is a politically motivated no confidence motion. Our standpoint on this Motion’s vote is being questioned by many. Some had even made phone calls and asked whether our vote for the Motion against the Prime Minister would not make us complicit for the crime of strengthening the hands of Rajapaksa camp. Some others demanded to know from us, if we would vote against the Motion and take the Prime Minister’s camp, wouldn’t it amount to an approval of the Bond scams he and his government worthies committed. We took a decision to vote for the Motion against the Prime Minister. We took that decision after considering the current political situation and its dynamics. On the other hand this Motion is against corruption and racism. The JVP is always against corruption and abhors racism. Seeing from that perspective too has made a decision right,” the JVP leader said. 

He went on to say that those who blame the Government for their initial inaction during the communal unrest in Kandy were the real racists in Parliament.

 “The whole world knows that those who accuse the Prime Minister of Bond scams had committed similar frauds many times. Those who say that they have no confidence in him because of his failure in preventing the spread of racial riots in Kandy district are actually champions of racism. A simple glance at the list of the names of those signed would show you the worst racists in the recent times. They are more racist than the Prime Minister.”

He then asserted that President Maithripala Sirisena too was responsible for the accusation contained in the No-Confidence Motion.

“We hold not only the Prime Minister but also the President responsible for the accusations listed in the No-Confidence Motion. The Motion would have been completed if it had contained a line stating that there is no confidence on the Premier for his deliberate delaying of the investigations against the Rajapaksas. Many of those who had complaints lodged against them at the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption are Ministers of this Government. Some of them are Ministers of the previous Government and had been defeated in the General Elections.”

JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake alleged that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made no real effort to support the Motion. “Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and most of the Joint Opposition MPs had no interest in winning the NCM. Only a few JO MPs, the ‘Gotabaya kalliya’, and those with President Maithripala Sirisena are behind the NCM. Mahinda Rajapaksa and MPs who are with him did not show much interest. They didn’t put any effort to win this. JO has put more effort into securing power in local councils. Not all of them have even come, and Rajapaksa hasn’t even signed the motion. JO MPs say that this Government is dangerous for the country and that it will destroy the nation. If the Government is so dangerous, why didn’t it put real effort into winning this?” he queried.

He said that the No-Confidence Motion was a last-ditch effort by President Sirisena to oust Premier Wickremesinghe. President Maithripala Sirisena who received a mandate to punish the corrupt also betrayed his mandate by protecting close to 50 corrupt MPs. “This Motion is a product of the President. After the election he asked the Prime Minister to leave and then he tried to form a Government. The NCM was brought after those moves failed,” he said.

UNF to bring No-Confidence Motion against Deputy Speaker

The United National Front (UNF) led by the United National Party (UNP) is considering submitting a No-Confidence Motion against Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala.

UNP member and Minister Navin Dissanayake said that Sumathipala acted in an unfair manner on the No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe,

 “UNF will move a No-Faith motion against Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala, who has acted in a capricious, arbitrary and unfair manner, without acting independently in the current No-Faith Motion - we will do this in the next Parliamentary session,” Dissanayake said in a Facebook post.

Sumathipala voted for the No-Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister. (Colombo Gazette)