17 January 2019 10:23 pm
In a letter to the Speaker, PHU Leader Udaya Gammanpila said the recent remarks made by TNA MPs Mavai Senathirajah and M.A. Sumanthiran were culminations that the TNA was a part of the government.
“The TNA MPs said it was upon their request that the Prime Minister had taken the Northern Development Ministry under his purview. They also said the government agreed to consult the TNA when making Cabinet decisions to develop the North and East. If the TNA is actively and directly engaged in Cabinet decision making and observing ministries’ duties, they are clearly government MPs. In this backdrop, allocating seats for the TNA MPs in the Opposition benches and time from the time allocated for the Opposition is a grave injustice to the main opposition-the United Peoples Freedom Alliance,” MP Gammanpila said.
He said even during the time when TNA Leader R. Sampanthan functioned as the Opposition Leader, the TNA MPs acted as if they were a part of the government.
“Mr. Sampanthan will make the world history as the one and only Opposition Leader who backed four budgets without adding single amendment to them. Twice in 2018, the TNA backed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament. When all these facts taken into consideration, it is evident that the TNA is an active stakeholder of the government,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)