Opposition says govt. purposely prevented scheduled meeting with FM Secretary and EC

The Opposition today alleged that the government purposely prevented the meeting with the Finance Ministry Secretary and the Elections Commission scheduled for this morning to discuss the financial matters concerning the election

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament that the government prevented the scheduled meeting claiming that there was a National Security Council (NSC) meeting.

The Opposition Leader said the claim that there was a NSC meeting was false and questioned how come there was a NSC meeting when the President, the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister were in the Chambers.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardane refuting the allegation said that the President came after the NSC meeting and as the Prime Minister, he informed the President he would not attend the meeting.

Opposition MP Chandima Weerakkody said the conspiracy to postpone the election was still in progress and said the Finance Ministry Secretary was prevented from attending the meeting with the Elections Commission this morning.

"The Finance Ministry Secretary informed the Elections Commission at the last moment that he could not attend the scheduled meeting as there was a NSC meeting. If there was a serious security issue in the country, how can the President come to Parliament within half an hour. A conspiracy is being hatched to postpone the election," the MP alleged.(Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)