PM violated Constitution by nominating 35 for Cabinet: JVP

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was looking for loopholes in the Constitution to increase the number of ministers in the Cabinet and had violated the Constitution by sending a list of 35 names to the President to be appointed as ministers.

He asked the government on what provisions of the Constitution, a list of 35 names were sent to the President.

“The 19th Amendment to the Constitution clearly says that the Cabinet should be restricted to 30 when it was not a national government,” he said and added that both President and the Prime Minister had violated the constitution.

He said the government was trying to claim that it was a national government by the use of one MP of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and added even if it assumed of such a scenario, even then they could increase the Cabinet only by one.

“This is not a national government. Let alone the Constitution and the law, it is obviously against the political decency to increase the Cabinet,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake said it is sad that the Prime Minister who claimed to protect the Constitution was violating it the next day after a fifty-day fight to protect the Constitution.

Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella said the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had not violated the Constitution and that he was only interpreting it.