Gota trying to follow suit of J.R. through 20A: NPP

The President is trying to amass more power to himself certainly not for the benefit of the people but to launch a suppressive and destructive governance similar to that of the then President J.R. Jayewardene, the National Peoples’ power Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday.

Joining the debate on the 20th Amendment, he said the then President Jayewardene wanted to amass more power for himself to launch his suppressive and destructive governance due to the social and economic debacle at that time. He said President Rajapaksa was also trying to do the same amidst the economic crisis the country was facing.

“Then President Jayewardene had a 5/6 majority in Parliament. But he could not launch his suppressive and destructive governance. So, he wanted to amass more power to his own hand. That is why he introduced the executive presidency to the 1978 Constitution.

Progressive forces protested against it,” he said and added that President Rajapaksa was also trying to take forward the second step of the same governance after Mr. Jayewardene by amassing more power through the 20A. “President Rajapaksa also has more than enough power to carry out development work. He has a 2/3rd majority in Parliament and the administration of a majority of Local Government Bodies. But, he is not satisfied. He wants to amass more power for himself. He wants to sign the MCC pact and sell valuable blocks of state lands to China for dollars to come out of this economic debacle, he said.