CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA 
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We will continue our struggle: Dulles
Joint Opposition MP Dulles Alahapperuma said today that they would continue their struggle inside and outside parliament until the identity of the joint opposition was recognised, for the sake of the peoples’ rights.
MP Alahapperuma said they had to stage a protest in parliament after their repeated requests during the last six months to recognise the joint opposition MPs as a separate group in parliament was not acceded to.
“We have had discussions with the speaker and the deputy speaker on 13 occasions on the subject, and have written three letters with regard to the discrimination against our MPs. We staged the protest only after such a long struggle. It was not a sudden decision,” he said.
Joint opposition MP Dinsesh Gunawardane said at a news conference that the speaker and the Prime Minister had accepted that the joint opposition had an issue in parliament with regard to their privileges and identity, and that it should be resolved.
Mr. Gunawardane asked, “If they think that we have an issue, why do they not take action to grant our demands?” He added that it was up to the speaker to take a decision regarding that.
“The speaker has the power to grant our demands, if he accepts that our demands should be granted. A chaotic situation arose in parliament today as the speaker did not give a decision due to the influence of the government,” he said.
Mr. Gunawardane said it was regrettable that the speaker continued parliamentary proceedings without the participation of the joint opposition MPs. He said it was illegal to pass an act of parliament when a group of MPs were in the middle of the chamber.
MP Udaya Gammanpila said that the discrimination against the joint opposition MPs had become a matter of international concern and that the Inter-Parliament Union Secretary General Martin Chungong had replied to their letter and requested a detailed report on the discrimination against their MPs. (Ajith Siriwardana)
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