Fifty – Seven Parliamentarians from the United Peoples Freedom Alliance(UPFA)Including ex – President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ex – speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and ex – senior ministers Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Dinesh Gunawardena are to appeal directly to the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya that the current leader of the opposition Rajavarothayam Sampanthan be “de – recognized” and that Kumara Welgama be duly recognized in his place as opposition leader.
A memorandum to this effect is being compiled with supporting documents including a number of affidavits to be presented to the speaker. A joint letter of appeal signed by all 57 MP’s including the Speaker aspirant Kumara Welgama will be submitted to Speaker Karu jayasuriya shortly.
A smaller delegation of MP’s representing the larger group of Parliamentarians who are signatories to the letter and memorandum will seek a direct meeting with Mr. Jayasuriya to explain the issue to the speaker.
It would be explained in detail to the speaker that 57 out of 95 elected UPFA Parliamentarians form the majority of both the UPFA as well as its chief constituent the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). This majority group indicated its willingness to President Maithripala Sirisena that it wanted to function in the opposition and proposed that Mr.Kumara Welgama be nominated as leader of the opposition. A letter had been given to President Sirisena and accepted.
It is however alleged that President Sirisena had withheld the letter and instead instructed the UPFA acting secretary Dr. Wiswa Warnapala to send a letter to the speaker that the UPFA was not seeking the leader of the opposition.
The speaker acting upon that letter had recognized the leader of the third largest grouping in Parliament and the second largest group in opposition namely the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) R. Sampanthan as the leader of the opposition.
The UPFA majority group would point out to Mr. Jayasuriya that his decision to recognize Mr. Sampanthan as opposition leader though “legal” was not quite “Legitimate”. As such the majority UPFA group will directly appeal to the speaker Karu Jayasuriya that he should take due note of the situation and remedy matters by de – recognizing Mr. Sampanthan as opposition leader and recognize Mr. Kumara Welgama in his place.
The UPFA Majority group will also state to the speaker that it would function as an independent group in Parliament pending a decision to re-constitute itself as a new political party or front.
Interestingly enough it is learnt that some members of this majority group of UPFA Parliamentarians regarded as Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists are on the verge of crossing over to President Sirisena’s side and accepting portfolios.
The 57 UPFA Parliamentarians appealing directly to the speaker are as follows –
1.Mahinda Rajapaksa
2. Chamal Rajapaksa
3.Vasudeva Nanayakkara
4.Dinesh Gunawardena
5.Bandula Gunawardena
6. Dullas Alahapperuma
7. Kumara Welgama
8.Wimal Weerawansa
9.Udaya Gammanpila
10. Salinda Dissanayake
11.Mahindananda Aluthgamage,
12.Ramesh Pathirana
13.Jayantha Samaraweera
14. Rohitha Abeygunawardena
15. Mohan de Silva
16. Ranjith de Zoysa
17.Weerakumara Dissanayake
18. Anuradha Jayaratne
19. PrasannaRanatunga
20.Sarathi Dushmantha Mithrapala
21. Chanaka Dilshan
22.Prasanna Ranaweera
23S.C. Muthukumarana
24. Susantha Punchinilame
25. Lakshman Wasantha Perera,
26.Sisira Jayakody
27. Indika Anuruddha
28. Dulip Wijesekera
29. Shriyani Wijewickreama
30. Janaka Wakkumbura
31. Siripala Gamlath
32. Johnston Fernando
33. Namal Rajapaksa
34. Manusha Nanayakkara
35. Padma Udaya Shantha Gunasekera
36.Shehan Semasinghe
37. Piyal Nishantha
38. Nishantha Muthuhettigama
39.Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
40. Geetha Kumarasinghe
41. Arundika Fernando
42. Roshan Ranasinghe
43. Thenuka Vidanagamage
44. S.M. Chandrasena
45. Vijitha Berugoda
46.Sumedha Jayasena
47.Kanchana Wijekesekera,
48.Kanaka Herath
49. Tharanath Basanayake
50. Pavithra Wanniarachchi
51.Niroshan Premaratne
52. T.B. Ekanayake
53. Lohan Ratwatte
54. Dilum Amunugama
55.Tharaka Balasuriya
56.Sanath Nishantha
57. Gamini Lokuge