UNP not doing enough to defeat proposed Con reforms - JVP

The JVP yesterday challenged the main opposition UNP to, if possible, get all its members elected to Parliament under the elephant symbol to vote against the Constitutional reforms. They promised to do the rest to defeat it.


The JVP found fault with the UNP, which it said was not doing enough to defeat the proposed constitutional reforms. JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva condemned the UNP for not doing anything sensible for that purpose. The UNP had confined its struggle to holding press conferences, Silva said.

"If the main opposition could ensure that all those elected under their symbol would vote against the reforms next week, the defeating of the bill is no big deal," he told a press conference at the party head office in Pelawatte, Battaramulla.

Under such a situation, the JVP had no intention to join a com mon front against the Constitutional reforms with the UNP, he said adding that such attachments would be detrimental to the JVP’s campaign against the reforms.

He said: "The UNP has not taken the issue seriously enough and is not doing its best to defeat it. We cannot form alliances with such a party. It would jeopardise our campaign too."

JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said that the proposed reforms were to be introduced to Parliament as an urgent bill and only a single day had been allocated for the debate. He said: "This is the basic law of the nation. The time allocated is not enough. This should be debated, discussed and argued by the scholars, constitutional experts and lawmakers to avoid any future problem."

Amarasinghe said the government had done everything under its powers to spend the least possible time to get it through Parliament. "So, their intentions are clear. The government has no majority in the House but mustered some numbers through bribery. It plans to abolish the 17th amendment to the Constitution and to do away with the limit on the terms of the president. The question the public should ask themselves is whether the most urgent need of the nation at this hour is the perpetuation of President Rajapaksa’s power."
(The Island)