Parliament

A screaming match and a surprise guest keep House agog
By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Corrospondet
A surprise visit to the Legislature by President Chandrika Kumaratunga was a highlight of Parliament sittings last week, but the antics of rebellious UNP MP T.Maheswaran not only had many government MPs screaming abuse at him, but also caused much embarrassment to the UNP.

President Kumaratunga's appearance on Thursday afternoon during the committee stage debate of the Ministry of Education of which she is the Minister, took everyone including many of her party men by surprise. Not surprisingly many of the seats on the government as well as Opposition benches were empty as the President arrived soon after the lunch break at the Legislature, a time when Parliament finds it difficult to get quorum to keep sittings going on.

It was Deputy Power and Energy Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage who rushed into the Chambers around 2.30p.m. and went from table to table alerting his colleages to the impeding arrival of the President. She walked in shortly, clad in a light green sari, flanked by leader of the House Maithripala Sirisena and Information and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera and proceed to sit where usually Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse sits. The Premier was not present at the time.

Ironically, the President arrived at the Legislature on a day when a few hours earlier several unkind remarks by Colombo district UNP MP T.Maheswaran directed at the Bandaranaike clan had almost led to blows with several UPFA members walking to the well of the House and asking the UNPer to come and face them there. In the forefront were Deputy Minister Dilan Perera and the former Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva who was recently awarded a doctorate.

The uproar ended with the Speaker ruling that all irrelevant sections of Mr.Maheswaran's speech would be expunged from Hansard and the Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle declaring that the government would no longer answer any of the questions raised by Mr.Maheswaran.

It was also the same morning that Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike made a personal explanation in Parliament where he defended the good name of the Bandaranaike family against what he called "several incorrect, palpably false, venomous, mischievous and misleading statements about the Bandaranaike family" by TNA's N.Raviraj recently.

Many government members appeared to be eager to impress the head of state. Deputy Urban Development and Water Supply Minister Mahinda Samaraweera who spoke soon after the President's arrival said she had shown courage by coming to Parliament to answer any questions that may arise in a Ministry coming under her preview.

The President left half an hour later, without speaking, disappointing many. It was the first time in over four years the President came into the Chambers of Parliament, the last being when she presented a draft Constitution in August, 2000 which led to fiery scenes in the House.

When the Committee stage of the Budget began on Tuesday, it was the votes of the Office of the President, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition that were taken up for debate along with several other important Departments and Commissions.

It was the day, TNA leader and Minister R.Sambanthan caused a storm by quoting form the Martyr's day speech made by LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. JHUs Ven.Aturaliya Ratana Thera interrupted Mr. Sambanthan and told him that he had taken an oath as an MP which forbids him from making speeches that advocate separatism. He said therefore to refer to the LTTE leader's speech was unconstitutional. He was supported by UPFA's Wimal Weerawansa as well as Dinesh Gunawardena who urged the Speaker to rule on the issue.

The Speaker however did not do so but instead said the Standing Order's of Parliament provide for the government to take action against MPs who violate the Constitution. He also asked party leaders to meet and decide any amendments to the standing orders to stop such speeches from being made. Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe supported the move as well. The next day the Speaker announced that he would expunge from Hansard any unconstitutional matters that Mr.Sampanthan had referred to.

During the course of his speech Mr. Sambanthan said that certain chauvinistic elements in the government were blocking the peace process from going forward. Pointing towards the JVP members on the government side he said they would have to be responsible for the division of the country.

Senior JVP member and Kalutara district MP Nandana Gunatilleke said that the charge that his party would divide the country was a joke. He said the JVP was not a racist party and that the problems faced by all communities were similar when they came from the underprivileged class, whether they were Tamils, Sinhalese or Muslims.

He said the Tamil community had faced some injustices that needed to be corrected but the JVP was not standing in the way of achieving a negotiated settlement to the national issue.

On Friday, it was once again Mr. Maheswaran who caused an uproar in the House, this time much to the embarrassment of his own party members. When the TNA called for a division on the votes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UNP decided to abstain from voting but Mr.Maheswaran defied the party decision and voted with the TNA MPs.

Several attempts by Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe and another UNPer Mano Wijeratne to get Mr.Maheswaran to change his decision failed and he voted with the TNA MPs and another national list member of the Up-Country People's Front P. Radhakrishnan - the only ones to oppose the vote of the Foreign Ministry.

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