Hindustan Times (Noida)

No confidence in Rajapaksa: MPS tell Parliament

- Bloomberg letters@hindustant­imes.com

› Parliament voted that they have no confidence in the government under (Mahinda) Rajapaksa. It is an illegal government. RANIL WICKREMESI­NGHE, whom President Maithripal­a Sirisena had fired as prime minister

COLOMBO:SRI Lanka’s parliament passed a no confidence motion against the former strongman leader who was abruptly appointed prime minister last month, deepening a political crisis that has roiled the island nation for weeks.

President Maithripal­a Sirisena, who fired prime minister Ranil Wickremesi­nghe and replaced him with Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in late October, had dissolved the island nation’s parliament and called for fresh elections. But after Wickremesi­nghe led a challenge to the legality of the president’s move, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed Sirisena’s order and allowed the house to reconvene.

On Wednesday, an opposition Marxist party handed over a no confidence motion to the house speaker as parliament met for the first time since Sirisena plunged the country into its current political crisis. “Parliament voted that they have no confidence in the government under Rajapaksa,” Wickremesi­nghe said on Wednesday at a press conference following the vote. “It is an illegal government.”

The motion challenged the appointmen­t of Rajapaksa, as well as the country’s freshly appointed cabinet ministers, as illegal.

When the house speaker asked for a vote on the matter, as many as 120 members -- a majority in the 225-seat parliament -- stood up against Rajapaksa, according to Lakshman Kiriella, a member of Wickremesi­nghe’s United National Party.

The speaker declared the motion was passed by a voice vote but was prevented from doing a roll call, Wickremesi­nghe said.

In a statement, speaker Karu Jayasuriya said he will send the president copies of the no confidence motion, the parliament’s decision and a letter with 122 signatures against the ‘unconstitu­tional’ appointmen­t of Rajapaksa.

The country’s parliament “accepts the majority vote and rules that the fake government of Mahinda Rajapaksa does not have the confidence’ of the house,” said Harsha de Silva, a lawmaker allied to Wickremesi­nghe, in a tweet.

Lawmaker Dinesh Gunawarden­a, who supports Rajapaksa, said the house speaker had acted unfairly by calling for a vote on the first session of parliament.

The legislatur­e was adjourned until Thursday. The vote is the latest twist in a crisis that began October 26 when Sirisena unexpected­ly fired Wickremesi­nghe, who had served since 2015 as prime minister in a unity government with the president.

DILSHAN JOINS RAJAPAKSA’S PARTY

Sri Lanka’s former cricket captain Tillakarat­ne Dilshan on Wednesday joined Rajapaksa’s political party, soon after his controvers­ial government was voted out by the legislatur­e.

Dilshan, 42, took membership in the Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP). There was no immediate comment from Dilshan, who quit internatio­nal cricket in 2016.

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