- 26 SLFPers join rainbow coalition Government as 11 new cabinet ministers, five state ministers and 10 deputy ministers
- Base of “ministerial types” expand by 50% to 76 in total
The newly appointed Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers after being sworn in yesterday with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe - Pic Sudath Silva
Marking a historic turn in the political history of Sri Lanka, the main Opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) yesterday joined the rainbow coalition Government by accepting 11 cabinet ministerial portfolios, five state ministerial portfolios and 10 Deputy Ministerial positions.
The new Ministers were sworn last afternoon by President Maithripala Sirisena in the presence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The new appointments bloat the base of “ministerial types” by 50% from 51 previously to 76 as of yesterday. The Interim Government now has 40 Cabinet Ministers, 23 Deputy Ministers and 13 State Ministers. The expansion is likely to cause concern among good governance activists whilst political analysts claimed the move was warranted in furtherance of the national government idea mooted by both the President and the Prime Minister.
Earlier in the day Health Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne made an announcement at a public rally in Kalutara revealing that this significant political change would take place due to a decision taken by the Government to form a coalition with the SLFP and to go towards a United National Party (UNP) and SLFP National Government.
Soon afterwards, following a SLFP group meeting which was held yesterday at the Presidential Secretariat office, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed 26 ministers.
The move, which was on the cards since last week, comes less than a month to the expiration of the Interim Government’s 100-day program and the promised General Election.
Last Wednesday at SLFP media briefing MP Mahinda Amaraweera said that the rifts within the party would cease before the Ratnapura pro-Mahinda Rajapaksa rally and an agreement satisfying all party members would be achieved soon.
He hinted a crucial change would take place inside the SLFP within the next couple of days.
“When this crucial change within the party happens that will bring all SLFP members onto one platform and everyone will be united. This is an internal problem within the party which will be settled soon. There is a group of people that wants to create a rift within the part, however they will not succeed and before the Ratnapura rally takes place a lot within the SLFP will change. Nevertheless, we will not banish anybody from our party,” Amaraweera said at the briefing.
Speaking further, he predicted that after this crucial change within the SLFP takes place, the United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) would want to postpone the general election.
Interestingly in yesterday’s appointments, SLFP members who are holding positions in Parliament and top posts in the party were not included. Among them are Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva, Chief Opposition Whip John Seneviratne and SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.
Ranil sees good future with Maithri
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says a new political culture has been created in Sri Lanka, mainly as a result of the efforts of President Maithripala Sirisena.
The Prime Minister said that by putting all differences aside, the political parties in Sri Lanka had united to create a better future of Sri Lanka.
“I think we have not agreed on one goal,” he added.
He said that while there were differences of opinion in the Government, those differences were debated and the Government was moving forward. (Colombo Gazette) |
“SLFP turned into UNP’s tail”: Wimal
Reacting to President Maithripala Sirisena’s move to appoint 26 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians as Ministers, National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa yesterday accused the President of converting the SLFP into the ‘tail’ of the ‘United National Party government’.
Speaking at a press conference at the NFF headquarters Weerawansa said that by entering the government SLFP MPs have betrayed the social forces that supported them.
“Maithripala Sirisena was not elected president through the votes of SLFP members. He was elected by the likes of Ranil Wickremesinghe, R. Sampanthan, Rauff Hakeem, Anura Dissanayake and Champika Ranawaka. Therefore, Sirisena is in need of forming a government which could not fall due to a no-confidence motion,” Weerawansa said.
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