Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake exposed how members of parliament are being paid to support the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister.
Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister late yesterday amid mounting challenges about his suitability for the post.
Dissanayake, who is also the leader of the National Peoples Power (NPP), revealed how MPs are being paid and bought over to make up the simple majority of 113 which is required to support Wickremesinghe’s premier ship. ‘The sale is now open and has begun’, said Dissanayake at a press conference a short while ago.
Yesterday, the convenor of the Inter University Students Federation Wasantha Mudalige spoke about information they received that five MPs from the National List of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna are to be removed to make way for five United National Party (UNP) members to take their place. If this goes ahead, it will boost the number of MPs the UNP has in parliament. Currently the UNP is represented only by Premier Wickremesinghe.
According to Sri Lanka’s Constitution the president can appoint a prime minister who commands the confidence of a majority of parliamentarians.
Yesterday, a leading Buddhist scholar the Ven. Omalpe Sobitha who has been representing the chief Buddhist prelates during talks with the government to overcome the country’s current political impasse, also spoke of moves that are underway to buy over MPs to support Wickremesinghe’s appointment.
The NPP has been engaged in a long -term drive to stop corruption in the country. It is also one of the demands of protesters at GotaGoGama, the makeshift village which was set up at Galle Face, to push for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Their peaceful struggle reaches its 35th day today.
