Constitutional Assembly Debate – JO not allocated sufficient time: MR

2 November 2017 02:05 pm Views - 3207

Former president and MP, Mahinda Rajapaksa said today the time allocated to the joint opposition for the debate on the interim report submitted by the Steering Committee was not sufficient.

He said the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were two political parties behind the conspiracy to form the unity government and the joint opposition was the only true opposition party in parliament.

"The JVP and the TNA are engaged in the conspiracy to draft the constitution. The joint opposition which is the true opposition got only about 15 minutes to speak during the debate. Speeches are lined up as UNP, TNA and SLFP and JVP. We get only a few speeches. I stayed the whole day on Wednesday and left," he claimed.

Responding to these allegations Leader of the House, Lakshman Kiriella said 829 minutes had been allocated to the opposition while 673 minutes was allocated to the government.

He said 228 minutes was allocated to the joint opposition. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)