Next step based on legal advice: Samarasinghe

President Maithripala Sirisena would consider the official communiqué and the list of 122 members allegedly supporting the two resolutions passed in Parliament yesterday, sent to him by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, when taking the next step, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday.

Responding to the Daily Mirror Minister Samarasinghe said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet remained until President Sirisena appointed a new Cabinet and a Prime Minister after he received the Communiqué of Speaker Jayasuriya and obtaining legal advice.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet news briefing Minister Samarasinghe emphasized that under no circumstances, President Sirisena would violate the Constitution or go against the accepted norms and traditions of democracy and parliamentary traditions to bring the country out of this political and constitutional mess.

“No one has challenged President Sirisena’s actions to remove former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.the 13 FR petitions filed in the Supreme Court were against the prorogation of Parliament. The stay order was also given against the prorogation by the Supreme Court,” he added.

Minister Samarasinghe in an attempt to justify the quitting of Parliamentary proceedings after the House passed the No Confidence Motion against the government said Speaker Jayasuriya’s action in Parliament was arbitrary and against the parliamentary tradition.

“In the Order Paper,’ there were only two items in Parliament yesterday decided at the party leaders’ Meeting. They were the Policy Statement of President Sirisena and the adjournment of Parliament. But after Standing Orders and it was passed. After that JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Vijitha Herath moved a No Confidence Motion against the government which was not in the agenda of the day.

“Then after a list of names with signatures of 122 members, was also handed over to the Speaker which was not shown to us. We demanded a division for the NCM and it was not given. That is why all joint opposition members came out of the House and refused to participate in the proceedings,” Minister Samarasinghe said.