{"id":44832,"date":"2016-01-23T20:35:38","date_gmt":"2016-01-24T00:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44832"},"modified":"2016-01-23T20:37:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-24T00:37:57","slug":"president-sirisena-in-unpublicised-meeting-with-namal-rajapaksa-invites-ex-president-mahinda-rajapaksas-son-to-work-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44832","title":{"rendered":"President Sirisena in Unpublicised Meeting with Namal Rajapaksa Invites Ex-President Mahinda’s son to Work With him"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Government\u2019s move to fast track the process for a new Constitution for Sri Lanka has been placed on temporary hold. A debate on the resolution for this purpose, moved by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, due in Parliament on Tuesday, January 26 has been cancelled. A new date is yet to be fixed and House Leader Lakshman Kiriella did not propose one when Speaker Karu Jayasuriya chaired a meeting of party leaders last Tuesday. As revealed last week, the delay is because Premier Wickremesinghe wants to discuss amendments moved by different political parties to his resolution.<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

One such amendment by the Mahinda Rajapaksa-backed \u2018joint opposition\u2019 has sought to include provisions that the entire House sit as a committee. In the original resolution reference is made only to the establishment of a Constitutional Assembly. Another is the exclusion of the word \u201cnew\u201d from the original resolution. Talks are to begin after Wickremesinghe returns from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa said last week that the Opposition had suggested that the process of constitutional change should be within the provisions of the present Constitution and the Standing Orders of parliament. Though he is in favour of his supporters taking part in the constitution-making process, Rajapaksa has made clear his position on a number of key elements. <\/p>\n

During a speech at the Abhayaramaya Temple in Colombo, as a news release claimed, Rajapaksa declared, \u201cIt is only through a referendum that certain entrenched provisions of the Constitution can be changed and if a whole new constitution is presented to the people at a referendum, many of the entrenched provisions can be changed in one fell swoop. <\/p>\n

People have suspicions that provisions inimical to the unitary character of the Sri Lankan state may find their way into the new constitution if it is passed as a single document. We must ensure that the whole constitution-making process is not hampered due to these misgivings.\u201d With reference to the 13th Amendment, he noted that the Indian constitutional system should first be examined before any change is made. This is because devolution of power was through the Provincial Councils.<\/p>\n

Despite Rajapaksa\u2019s statement, President Maithripala Sirisena has named former President\u2019s loyalists in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) too to a Committee on constitutional matters. The committee comprises Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Susil Premajayantha, John Seneviratne, and Rajapaksa loyalists Pavithra Wanniaratchci, Bandula Gunawardena and Keheliya Rambukwella.<\/p>\n

Namal-Sirisena talks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bringing in Rajapaksa loyalists into the committee is part of ongoing stepped-up efforts by Sirisena to consolidate his leadership in the SLFP, a task in which he has failed so far. Weeks earlier, he had an informal meeting with Hambantota District lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa after an intermediary arranged it. Sirisena invited him to work together.<\/p>\n

Namal was to point out that every member of his family faced five to six investigations from state agencies. A source familiar with the dialogue said Namal lamented that his father cannot move that freely due to security threats and had to maintain his dignity amidst different forms of humiliation. Sirisena was to make it clear that his conversation was with Namal and did not involve his father who had served his terms.<\/p>\n

This unpublicised dialogue appears to have had its sequel in a different way. Mahinda Rajapaksa who is on a district-by-district tour as a prelude to the formation of a new political party and an alliance with others thereafter was posed the question by key supporters \u2014 would he retire from politics if all investigations against him and members of his family were withdrawn?<\/p>\n

The same question was posed to Basil Rajapaksa who was together with brother Mahinda in Kalutara on Friday.<\/p>\n

Both insisted there was no truth in such claims and declared that they would not sacrifice politics and be silenced by the offer to halt investigations. Namal himself told friends that he never gave that impression during the meeting with President Sirisena but \u201conly defended the family\u2019s position\u201d and the \u201cunfair treatment they were receiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Government\u2019s move to fast track the process for a new Constitution for Sri Lanka has been placed on temporary hold. A debate on the resolution for this purpose, moved by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, due in Parliament on Tuesday, January 26 has been cancelled. A new date is yet to be fixed and …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena in Unpublicised Meeting with Namal Rajapaksa Invites Ex-President Mahinda’s son to Work With him’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44834,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44832\/revisions\/44834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}