Home and home battle over petitions

A home and home battle flared up in Parliament yesterday with regard to the filing of petitions against the delimitation gazette notification.

It began when Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera accused Deputy Minister Ajith P Perera of cslinging mud at the SLFP. "We are working on an agreement signed between the UNP and the SLFP and therefore we don't have underhand deals," he said.

The minister said Rajapaksa Kumara who is among six petitioners is a close associate of a former deputy minister. "I have agreed to field Rajapaksa as a candidate for the local government elections following many requests made by the party machinery," he said. "I managed to get the contact number of this person from CaFFE Chief Keerthi Tennnekoon and asked him why he signed the petition. He informed me that the former deputy minister asked him to sign it."

The deputy minister in response said he asked the question on the petitions after the statement made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the House on Thursday. "Mr Rajapaksa said the government was trying to postpone the elections through various tactics. I was only responding to the allegation made by the former president and challenged the joint opposition to name those who are behind the filing of petitions. There was no under hand deals involved," he said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)