Govt. to lose two thirds majority?

Heard this claim for last two years – Ravi Karunanayake.

Parliamentarians belonging to the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction of the UPFA insisted that the government would lose its two-thirds majority within the next two weeks.But Foreign Minister and Assistant Leader of the UNP, Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday that their claim had been heard for the last two years.

The MPs who supported former President Rajapaksa had repeatedly claimed that the fall of the UNP-SLFP led National Unity Government was imminent. But, no such thing had happened, Karunanayake noted, adding that it was only wishful thinking that the government would fall.

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Karunanayake said it was natural that there were differences in an alliance of several political parties, but they could be ironed out since President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were committed to working together in the national interest.

The current government could not be toppled since it was not an opportunistic arrangement, but founded on sound principles of restoring democracy, implementing the rule of law and uniting and developing Sri Lanka, after a decade which saw the country’s resources being plundered by those who wielded unbridled power and the debt burden soaring to unprecedented heights, the Minister said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the 13 SLFP MPs who had informed President Sirisena that they wanted to sit in the Opposition said that they would not be teaming up with the Rajapaksa faction since their mission was to strengthen the SLFP in the run-up to local and provincial polls scheduled to be held before the end of this year.

“We want to counter the Rajapaksas attempts to divide and weaken the SLFP, at this crucial juncture,” the Spokesperson added.