We don’t remove MPs voted into office

The General Secretary of the SLFP Minister Maithripala Sirisena says the two SLFP MPs who crossed over to the opposition on Tuesday could continue to hold their seats in Parliament in keeping with the policy of President Mahinda Rajapaksa not to deprive them of their seats. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Minister Sirisena added the government was not deterred by threats to bring it down.

He said there were sufficient numbers in Parliament to hold office for the next three years.

Some excerpts of the interview.

You will naturally have to say that the breakaway of your past treasurer and the chief campaign manager of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not a threat to the ruling party?

There is no threat at all. It is not a new experience for the SLFP. In our party’s 56 years of existence, we have had many such cross-overs. People have gone from here to there and come from there to here. The President’s policy is that as a democratic party, anyone can come and go. Mangala Samaraweera can also come back if he so wishes. New political parties have been formed by persons with a bigger political clout than Mangala Samaraweera. Finally neither these parties nor those who formed them survived.

Mr. Samaraweera has invited former President Chandrika Kumaratunga to take over the leadership of the breakaway faction. Any comment?

Just because she is invited to do so, I don’t think she will fall into a political rubbish dump like that. She is a person, who loves the SLFP, if someone forms a party to challenge it , I don’t think anyone from the Bandaranaike family will support it or work against the SLFP.

Will the SLFP resist any legal moves to register a party called the SLFP (Mahajana)?

They cannot register another party as the SLFP when there is already a political party by that name. It will not happen either.

There will be a disciplinary inquiry against them, but under the President’s policies we will not take steps to deprive them of their seats in Parliament.

We contested the election as an alliance. As a democratic political party we don’t expect to remove MPs who have been voted into office by their supporters. But we will have to appoint a new treasurer as Mr. Samaraweera was holding the post of treasurer.

Now that he is sitting in the opposition he cannot continue in that post. The Executive Committee will meet soon and appoint a new treasurer.

Yes they can but they will be removed from the party positions they hold.

Does the President have the support of the majority in the SLFP? The two MPs say some more are waiting to cross over?

The UNP too has been saying this for several months. I didn’t think they are truthful. I didn’t think we have in our party, such foolish people who want to commit political suicide by making such a move.

Can this government continue for its remaining term of office given the present scenario?

We came to power in 2004 and we have three more years in office. We are in a good position in Parliament. Recently the UNP and the JVP all got together and voted against us. Several of our MPs were abroad at the time of voting but we still got a comfortable majority. We have the ability to continue till the next general election.

The government will not fall. It cannot be toppled and we will not allow it to be toppled.

Mr. Samaraweera was a close confidant of the President and worked hard to get him elected to office. What caused them to drift apart?

In politics we must all have an assessment of ourselves. We must not overestimate ourselves and must work with an understanding of where we stand and what our responsibilities are. There is no short cut in politics. Those who seek short cuts get destroyed.

Something similar happened to our friend S.B. Dissanayake as well. They are good people, but they sought short cuts. By doing so they even lost the positions they previously held. In politics you must move cautiously. I think this is what happened to Mangala. He was in a hurry to climb the political ladder and he over estimated himself.

One allegation is that government is being run by the Rajapaksa brothers? Is there disenchantment within the party rank and file because of this?

If one family is running this government, we won’t be in this Cabinet. Chamal Rajapaksa came to this Parliament with me 18 years ago and so he has a right to be a Minister in this Government. Just because his brother is the President he cannot be deprived of a Ministerial post. We have no interference in our Ministries and we are allowed to work independently.

If there was such a deal with the LTTE, why would the LTTE be launching attacks in the north and east and why would the government launch operations against the LTTE to liberate the east.

The President is making a concerted effort against terrorism. If there was any such deal, he would not be doing so.

The Opposition wants a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe these allegations?

That is in the hands of the Speaker. We have no objection to it. The Speaker can act under the powers vested in him.