Govt. snubs UNP, seeks five-sixths majority
The government responded yesterday to the UNP’s offer to help it get a two-thirds majority to introduce a new Constitution. Its response was that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was capable of getting as much as a five-sixths majority at the next general elections.
While thanking the UNP for its offer, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told a news conference that, “UNP spokesman MP Lakshman Kiriella’s offer, coming as it does after the UPFA’s resounding victory at the Central and North Western Provincial Council polls, is too late. Whether he and the UNP like it or not, the government is confident of getting not just a two-thirds majority but a five-sixths majority at the next general elections, if President Rajapaksa seeks the people’s mandate to introduce a new Constitution,”
Mr. Abeywardena said that the saner counsel now prevailed within the UNP, after its humiliating defeat at the PC polls.
He said the government would seek a mandate after winning the war, restoring peace and stability in the North, and launching massive development programmes covering the entire country -- and especially the North and East.
“How does the UNP hope to solve the ethnic issue? It has deliberately refrained from participating in the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and All Party Conference (APC) deliberations, thinking that the government will bungle the war and the development efforts. The UNP should have extended its support to the government when it launched the humanitarian operations to liberate the East from terrorism,” Mr. Abeywardena said.
He said the Rajapaksa regime had succeeded not only in winning the war but also in gaining the support and confidence of the International Community, and India in particular, towards Sri Lanka.
Mr. Abeywardena said the statement made by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, to the effect that the LTTE should be held responsible for the sufferings of the Tamils, was an indication of the Indian government’s policy towards Sri Lanka.
“This was a bold and straightforward statement, made without thought for the vote base of the Congress party and pressure from Tamil Nadu. The International Community, too, is now critical of the LTTE. The International Community’s statements are supportive of the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to liberate innocent Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE,” said Mr. Abeywardena.
He said the International Community favoured Sri Lanka because of the unwavering policies of this government, and that President Rajapaksa was consistent in his stance that terrorism had to be crushed militarily and the ethnic conflict resolved through a political package.
- February 18 – Senior Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the government will seek 2/3 majority at the next general election to pass a new Constitution.
- February 19 – UNP’s spokesman Parliamentarian Lakhsman Kiriella offered the party’s support to the government to pass a new Constitution.
The government responded yesterday to the UNP’s offer to help it get a two-thirds majority to introduce a new Constitution. Its response was that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was capable of getting as much as a five-sixths majority at the next general elections.
While thanking the UNP for its offer, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told a news conference that, “UNP spokesman MP Lakshman Kiriella’s offer, coming as it does after the UPFA’s resounding victory at the Central and North Western Provincial Council polls, is too late. Whether he and the UNP like it or not, the government is confident of getting not just a two-thirds majority but a five-sixths majority at the next general elections, if President Rajapaksa seeks the people’s mandate to introduce a new Constitution,”
Mr. Abeywardena said that the saner counsel now prevailed within the UNP, after its humiliating defeat at the PC polls.
He said the government would seek a mandate after winning the war, restoring peace and stability in the North, and launching massive development programmes covering the entire country -- and especially the North and East.
“How does the UNP hope to solve the ethnic issue? It has deliberately refrained from participating in the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and All Party Conference (APC) deliberations, thinking that the government will bungle the war and the development efforts. The UNP should have extended its support to the government when it launched the humanitarian operations to liberate the East from terrorism,” Mr. Abeywardena said.
He said the Rajapaksa regime had succeeded not only in winning the war but also in gaining the support and confidence of the International Community, and India in particular, towards Sri Lanka.
Mr. Abeywardena said the statement made by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, to the effect that the LTTE should be held responsible for the sufferings of the Tamils, was an indication of the Indian government’s policy towards Sri Lanka.
“This was a bold and straightforward statement, made without thought for the vote base of the Congress party and pressure from Tamil Nadu. The International Community, too, is now critical of the LTTE. The International Community’s statements are supportive of the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to liberate innocent Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE,” said Mr. Abeywardena.
He said the International Community favoured Sri Lanka because of the unwavering policies of this government, and that President Rajapaksa was consistent in his stance that terrorism had to be crushed militarily and the ethnic conflict resolved through a political package.
