by Maheesha Mudugamuwa Courtesy The Island

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) yesterday said the 20th Amendment to the constitution which the JVP had proposed to be presented to the parliament, was not the biggest issue of the country at the moment. The party urged President Miathripala Sirisena to dissolve the parliament to end the current economic and political crisis.

Responding to a query by the media at a briefing held at the party head office at Nelum Mawatha, Battaramulla, SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L Pieris said the 20th Amendment to the constitution had not yet been discussed in parliament and therefore the SLPP had enough time to decide on it.

Meanwhile the Joint Opposition (JO) recently said that it would give a conditional support to the 20th Amendment. MP Bandula Gunawardena said that if the JVP included a clause to the effect that Parliament would be dissolved immediately after the passage of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the JO would vote for the proposed amendments.

Alleging that India and Western powers were behind the 20-A project, the Federation of National Organisations (FNO) urged JO to reconsider its decision as it was in line with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s promise to those involved in a high profile operation in 2014/2015 to bring the Rajapaksa government to an end.

According to Prof. Pieris, the most important issue at present was to dissolve the parliament and to hold the presidential election next year as the present yahapalana government couldn’t manage the economy of the country and as a result the country’s national resources as well as its citizens had already been put into a very dangerous situation.

He alleged that the government was controlled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Prime Minister and President were implementing their recommendations such as increasing the taxes and reducing the concessions given to the people.

Highlighting the statistics, Prof. Pieris stressed that the total tax income in 2014 was around one trillion rupees but in 2017 it had doubled to two trillion rupees. Public debt had been increased to Rs. 12,300 billion when the national income was only Rs. 2, 400 billion. Sri Lanka had to pay Rs. 700 billion as loan interests alone.