National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa said that the opposition leader of the Parliament should be chosen by MPs who sit in opposition and not the President.

Speaking to BBC Sandeshaya, Weerawansa said that the President is killing the country's democracy by appointing the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Opposition Leader and the Chief Organizer of the Opposition all by himself.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party Central Committee permitted its elected MPs to sit in opposition if they do not wish to support the national government. However, reports later said that the SLFP Central Committee will take a decision on the Opposition Leader post.

Maithripala Sirisena wields considerable power within the SLFP CC as the party President.

Wimal Weerawansa said that it was not sufficient to allow SLFP MPs to sit in opposition. They should be free to act as they wish within the opposition, he said.

Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's allies are planning to form a new opposition alliance, breaking away from President Maithripala Sirisena's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition, senior leftist leaders said on Saturday.

"We are looking to form a new political front. We are having talks with different groups," Tissa Vitharana of the Trotskyist Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) said. Vitharana was a senior minister under Rajapaksa in his near decade old regime which ended in January.

"We have to form a new front, we are against this national government arrangement," Vasudeva Nanayakkara of another left party said. With the August 17 parliamentary election results and Sirisena's decision to form a coalition government of national unity between the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) and Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the old left have felt overlooked and ignored by Sirisena.

The old left parties have been part of the UPFA since its formation in 2004 as an anti UNP political front. The coalition ruled the country between 2004 and early this year. Vitharana and Dinesh Gunawardena, the leaders of the nationalist Mahajana Eksath Permauna (MEP) have accused Sirisena of breaking the UPFA coalition. 

(PTI)

Sri Lanka’s new government has further delayed formation of the Cabinet beyond the already agreed deadline of September 2.

The election was held nearly two weeks ago in which the United National Party (UNP) failed to win the absolute majority of 113 seats in 225-member assembly.

The UNP and the Opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party decided to form a national unity government following which there were serious negotiations and disagreements over the sharing of key portfolios.

Duminda Disssanayake, the SLFP acting general secretary, said the new Cabinet was most likely to be inducted on September 4. He said the SLFP’s 64th convention would be held on September 2 in Polonnaruwa and said they had invited all party officials, including President Maithripala Sirisena who is the party chairman, to attend the event.

Sirisena pledged to form a national government with his members providing the majority for the national unity government will be in office for a minimum period of two years. However, some members of the SLFP who are followers of the former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa have announced that they would not join the national government but would work as the main Opposition.

President Sirisena has allowed the MPs to act according to their wishes. Sirisena on Monday appointed three members of the Cabinet, including the foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera. They were appointed to host a visit by a group of top US state department officials.

(PTI)

Seven months after he was made de jure Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the opposition United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena  became its de facto head on Friday.

The group headed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was reduced to a rump when the SLFP Central Committee unanimously decided to give Sirisena full authority to decide on the nature of the party’s participation in the National Government; who all will take ministerial portfolios and who will be the Leader of the Opposition.

In deference to Sirisena‘s wish, the Central Committee warned SLFP MPs that anyone defying its diktat will be liable to disciplinary action.

It is expected that at least 70 of the 80 SLFP MPs in the 95 member UPFA group in parliament will fall in line. But what Rajapaksa, who is an SLFP man and MP from Kurunegala District, will do, is yet to be seen. Since his die hard supporters, many of whom  represent small parties in the UPFA, have decided to sit in the opposition, Rajapaksa might cast his lot with them.  

Meanwhile, to smoothen ruffled feathers and get former Rajapaksa loyalists on board, the Sirisena group withdrew court cases against the two sacked General Secretaries of the SLFP and the UPFA, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Susil Premajayantha respectively.

Their places had already been given to Sirisena loyalists, Duminda Dissanayake ( SLFP) and Dr.Vishwa Warnapala (UPFA), but both Yapa and Premajayantha are to be made cabinet ministers in the National Government to be formed  with the United National Front for Good governance (UNFG) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

(The New Indian Express)

The petition filed against former UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha and former SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa were dismissed today by Colombo District Court Judge Harsha Setunge.

The Judge dismissed the petition considering requests made by the plaintiffs Duminda Dissanayake and Prof. Vishwa Warnapala.

The plaintiffs informed the District Court that they were not obstructed in their duties as the General Secretaries of the UPFA and the SLFP. They had earlier obtained an injunction order against Premajayantha and Yapa preventing them functioning as UPFA and SLFP General Secretaries.

The plaintiffs also informed the court that Premajayantha has already tendered his resignation as UPFA General Secretary. A copy of the letter of resignation was submitted as proof.

SLFP Acting General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake said that the swearing-in of the national government Cabinet of Ministers could get delayed further than September 2.

Speaking at a SLFP press conference today, he pointed out that the number of ministries in a national government has to be determined by the parliament.

The parliament is to be convened on September 1. However, reports said that the JVP will request a debate on the national government formation, which could delay the process.

Meanwhile, the SLFP anniversary celebration will be held on September 2 at Polonnaruwa. Therefore the SLFP ministers would find it difficult to attend the swearing-in on the same day.

Dissanayake clarified that the national government has not been officially formed. SLFP and UNP came to an understanding on how to work within such a government, he added. The national government will be formed following the necessary approval from the parliament on the number of ministries.

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Vice Chairman Somaweera Chandrasiri filed a Fundamental Rights Petition with the Supreme Court, requesting the suspension of the Gazette Notification on the UPFA National List appointments.

Filing the petition, Chandrasiri argued that the fundamental rights of both his and the public has been violated by the appointment of those whoe were not on the original list to the Elections Commissioner.

The petitioner named 45 respondents including the Elections Commissioner, former UPFA General Secreatary Susil Premajayantha, UPFA General Secreatary Prof. Vishwa Warnapala and the appointed UPFA national list MPs.

The new UPFA General Secretary Prof. Vishwa Warnapala assumed duties at the SLFP headquarters in Colombo today.

This move came a day after the former UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha informed President Maithripala Sirisena that he is stepping down from the position.

On August 14, the Colombo District Court issued an injunction order against Susil Premajayantha's functioning as UPFA General Secretary after considering a petition by Prof. Warnapala. A similar order was given against Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, the then SLFP General Secretary.

Premajayantha had earlier refused the order, saying that the UPFA Executive Committee has to approve his removal.