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House goes into year-end recess with crossover hangover
If anyone was hoping for fireworks on the last sitting day of Parliament, before the January 8 Presidential poll, they would have been disappointed.
None of the excitement associated with the lead up to the poll, with multiple crossovers to and fro taking place outside, was in any way reflected when Parliament met on Friday.
While students were sitting for their O/Level Examination at a school in Naula on Thursday, a Pradeshiya Sabha UPFA member and four policemen had arrived in a speaker-fitted double cab with a digital televising screen and begun to show a film about the war victory. Angry parents who were waiting for the students outside the school premises had asked the group to leave. The men had then apologised and left the venue. Pix by Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa.
The only noteworthy feature was the swearing in of former Eastern Provincial Councilor Ameer Ali Shihabdeen as a new National List MP from the ruling UPFA. He filled the seat that fell vacant when former member A.H.M. Azwer resigned recently.
Two other members who crossed over from the UPFA to support Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, namely MP Rajiv Wijesinha and Hunais Farook, did turn up in the House, the first time since they switched sides but their switch did not cause much commotion in the House.
There was also a question listed in the Order Paper in the name of former UNP MP Tissa Attanayake, who is now the Minister of Health, which was withdrawn, as it was no longer relevant since he changed sides.
Parliament took up for debate an Order made by the Minister of Finance and Planning on stamp duties imposed on imported food items, so as to assist local farmers. The Order was introduced in Parliament by Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva who said the increase in duties had assisted the local producers to get better prices for their products, and also brought additional income to State coffers.
However, UNP Colombo Distract MP Sujeewa Senasinghe said that the relief packages that the Government has given to local farmers has not seeped down to people at the grassroots. “Today, people are living with great difficulty. You talk of encouraging local industrialists, but after being in power for so many years, have you managed to develop any local industry,” he asked.
However, there was more talk of politics than of economics by most MPs on both sides of the House. UNP Kurunegala District MP Nalin Bandara said that the Government had postponed the sessions of four Provincial Councils, knowing they were headed for defeat. “Today, the UPFA members have been intimidated by the President who said he has files on them. By saying this, he has indicted all the members of the Government as being corrupt,” he said.
Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena was among several Government members targeting former President Chandrika Kumaratunga for the upheaval in the political setup of the country, with the crossover of Mr Sirisena, saying that Ms. Kumaratunga was being driven by vengeance and not by real love for the country. “Chandrika Kumaratunga was never loyal to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLPF) and formed the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMC) to undermine the SLFP. She is being backed by international forces to undermine the President and the country. These forces are sympathetic to the LTTE,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Heath Lalith Dissanayaka too said that the move to bring about a person to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa by trying to split the SLFP was motivated by vengeance. “This is like “ege vairaya”- (her revenge), he said. UNP Kalutara District MP Ajith Perera said that if the incumbent President is re-elected by any chance, the middle class and low income earners in the country will be heaped with many more taxes. “Today, many SLFP members from the top to those at grassroot level are deserting the President’s side and joining Maithripala Sirisena, as they want a change,” he said.
Parliament adjourned till January 20, by which time the political landscape of the country could be different from what it is now. It could also pose many challenges for legislators, depending on which side of the House they decide to remain in.