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Dual party dilemma over MR, Namal and others
View(s):Sri Lanka Freedom Party members–including Mahinda Rajapaksa and his son, Namal, — who publicly decamped to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) last month–did so without resigning from the SLFP or the United People’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA), officials have claimed.
On December 11, it will be one month since many SLFP parliamentarians took SLPP membership. Under Section 99 (13) of the Constitution, where an MP ceases, “by resignation, expulsion or otherwise,” to be a member of a recognised political party or independent group on whose nomination paper his name appeared at the time of his becoming an MP, “his seat shall become vacant upon the expiration of a period of one month from the date of his ceasing to be such member…”
But a curious situation has arisen in the case of most SLFP MPs who left the party — with officials such as SLFP General Secretary Rohana Luxman Piyadasa and UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera claiming they had not submitted resignation letters. At the same time, both officials admitted that no one can be members of two parties at the same time.
“They did not send resignation letters,” said Mr. Amaraweera. “They cannot be members of two parties. But they have time. We have not taken any decision or discussed this.” He indicated that the question of whether or not this is an issue will be resolved with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the dissolution of Parliament.
Earlier, SLPP ideologue Basil Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times his brother and others had waited until dissolution to switch parties so as not to lose their seats. However, the dissolution was suspended by the Supreme Court.
He only knew about the SLFPers joining SLPP from the public and media, said Prof Piyadasa. They did not resign from the older party. There were no moves to take action on their question of their parliamentary seats, he added. “We believe there are larger national objectives,” he explained.