29 April 2022 09:58 am Views - 24172
In a meeting held with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government parliamentarians last evening, 117 MPs said Mahinda Rajapaksa should continue as the Prime Minister and further informed the President and Prime Minister both should continue.
109 MPs were physically present while 8 MPs could not attend due to other appointments. After many heated arguments, the MPs were of the view that the President and Prime Minister should continue and discussed the present crisis and the way forward.
Even Dullas Allahapperuma who wrote a letter recently to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa saying the Prime Minister and the cabinet must step down and let the parliament form a new coalition government with a clear national agenda to overcome current challenges, was present at the meeting last evening.
At the meeting, a senior MP had raised a question if anyone has any objections to Mahinda Rajapaksa continuing as the Prime Minister. The MPs had not raised objections. The President then had said that he would allow anyone who showed the majority numbers in Parliament to continue the government. He also said he had not asked Mahinda Rajapaksa to step down from the Premiership and Mahinda can continue as the Prime Minister.
The economic crisis was also discussed at the meeting to which Mahinda Rajapaksa said they had appointed economic experts and were now looking to resolve the issues. Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara briefed the group on the present fuel situation and what had gone wrong previously. (JAMILA HUSAIN)