{"id":102115,"date":"2020-05-10T14:04:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T21:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=102115"},"modified":"2020-05-10T14:06:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T21:06:59","slug":"some-elements-exploiting-virus-to-prolong-crisis-alleges-slpp-nl-nominee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/10\/some-elements-exploiting-virus-to-prolong-crisis-alleges-slpp-nl-nominee\/","title":{"rendered":"Some elements exploiting virus to prolong crisis, alleges SLPP NL nominee"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando\u00a0 Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"article_image\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yuthukama Convenor Gevindu Cumaratunga, yesterday (10), alleged that the political forces defeated at the last presidential election were still trying to pursue their agenda inimical to the Sri Lanka State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumaratunga said that in spite of being routed by SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the November 2019 presidential poll those who backed UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa\u2019s candidature were making a desperate bid to regroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil society activist Cumaratunga who is also on the SLPP National List alleged that the unexpected global health crisis caused by coronavirus was being exploited by political opponents to their advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not for corona crisis, the SLPP could have convincingly won parliamentary polls originally scheduled for April 25, Cumaratunga said, pointing out that the UNP-led coalition resigned in the wake of heavy presidential polls defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabaya Rajapaksa won by over 1.3 mn votes prompting several ministers to resign even before the UNP did so, Cumaratunga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to another query, Cumaratunga said that the treacherous 19th Amendment to the Constitution enacted in 2015 prevented newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from calling parliamentary polls immediately after his overwhelming victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President had no option but to wait till March 2, 2020 to dissolve parliament in terms of the 19th Amendment, Cumaratunga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enacted with the backing of more than 200 lawmakers of the 225-member parliament, the 19th Amendment stipulated the House couldn\u2019t be dissolved before it completed four and half years of its five-year term, Yuthukama leader said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alleging that the Opposition elements engaged in politics at the expense of much needed stability harmed post-corona recovery programme, Cumaratunga pointed out that breakaway UNP faction-the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) exposed its despicable intentions by moving court against parliamentary polls now scheduled for June 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumaratunga emphasized that the Election Commission (EC) on April 20th fixed parliamentary polls for June 20 after having indefinitely postponed parliamentary elections on March 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumaratunga said that SJB General Secretary former lawmaker Ranjith Maddumabandara (SJB National List) and JHU General Secretary Patali Champika Ranawaka (SJB Colombo District contestant at the 2020 parliamentary polls moved Supreme Court on behalf of Sajith Premadasa\u2019s outfit. In addition to them, former editor of Ravaya Victor Ivan and several others as well as Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu on behalf of the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) challenged the March 2 dissolution of parliament and EC fixing polls for June 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney-at-law Charitha Gunaratne, too, filed a fundamental rights petition against the EC\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court will hear petitions filed against the scheduled election. Cumaratunga pointed out that the breakaway UNP factions realized they faced unprecedented defeat at the parliamentary polls hence wanted to further put off polls. The civil society activist said that interested parties moved court after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declined to rescind Gazette Extraordinary no. 2165\/8 that dissolved the last parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumaratunga said that reconvening of the dissolved parliament under whatever circumstances would be quite contrary to the wishes of the overwhelming majority. Cumaratunga said that the electorate rejected the yahapalana lot at the much delayed Local Government polls in Feb 2018, then they suffered debilitating presidential election defeat last November and the general election too would prove to be another devastating experience for them. Therefore their clamour to put off the national poll, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yuthukama Chief recalled how Gotabaya Rajapaksa was nearly deprived of an opportunity to contest the last presidential election on the basis of their false claim he was not a Sri Lankan citizen. The US recently confirmed Gotabaya Rajapaksa in fact had renounced his US citizenship, Cumaratunga pointed out, declaring that the electorate would reiterate their faith in the government at the parliamentary polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of attempts to deceive the public, the vast majority appreciated the efforts made by the government to bring the situation under control, Cumaratunga said. The public compared how the UNP led government reacted after receiving specific intelligence warning of impending Thowheed Jamaat suicide attacks in April 2019 and incumbent government tackled the coronavirus threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumaratunga alleged that some members of the Opposition couldn\u2019t stomach the government having brought the situation under control, when even most advanced countries, let alone our own neighbours, were still struggling to get a handle on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando\u00a0 Courtesy The Island Yuthukama Convenor Gevindu Cumaratunga, yesterday (10), alleged that the political forces defeated at the last presidential election were still trying to pursue their agenda inimical to the Sri Lanka State. Cumaratunga said that in spite of being routed by SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the November 2019 presidential poll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}