Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa

NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe

• SJB, NPP and several independent MPs walk out of Parliament
• SJB, NPP announce boycott of this week’s sittings in protest at Govt.’s failure to address people’s problems
• Opp. Leader says both President, PM a failure
• JVP leader says Govt. must place road map for short-term relief for people before House
• Champika Ranawaka, Ratana Thera join boycott
• MP Weerawansa too criticises Govt. but says will continue to attend sittings

 By Chandani Kirinde

The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP) and several independent MPs walked out of the Chamber yesterday after announcing they will boycott Parliament sittings this week in protest at the Government’s failure to address any of the problems faced by the people.

Joining the walkout were independent MPs Patali Champika Ranawaka and Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thera.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who announced the decision by the SJB MPs to boycott sittings said that the President and the Prime Minister are both a failure and they have no solution to the people’s problems.

“We will not be a party to the scam that is being enacted by this Government. We have stood up with people in the past, we will stand up with them now and will do so in the future," Premadasa said.

JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the Government has been wasting time with no specific program to solve the problems of the people.

“We want a road map detailing how the Government plans to overcome this 

problem. There is no point having any debates here unless there is such a program placed before the House,” he said.

Dissanayake said the President is nothing but a puppet and the demand by the people for him to step down is justified.

“If you can’t find solutions to people's problems, what is the use of having such a leader? The President ignored all the proposals to form an all-party Government and appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe but within one-and-a-half months he has shown he and the Government are incapable of solving the people’s problems,” Dissanayake said.

The Government also came in for severe criticism from SLFP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera and MP Wimal Weerawansa who said the President had ignored the proposals to form an all-party Government and had picked Ranil Wickremesinghe who had been rejected by the people.

“We will not boycott Parliament. We will stay on and try to shake this Government out of its slumber,” Weerawansa said.

Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera said this is an anti-democratic Government and hence is incapable of getting assistance from the international community.

“It is not possible for this Government to remain in office. It has been rejected by the people,” Ratana Thera said.

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