26 October 2022 09:23 am Views - 301
By Yohan Perera
Member of Parliament Tissa Vitharana yesterday said he is not against the 21st Amendment to the constitution though he was not present at the time of voting, thus confirming that all 49 MPs who did not vote for the legislation were opposing it.
Professor Vitharana told Daily Mirror that he could not be present at the time of voting as he had to attend an important meeting.” There was a meeting of Dr. N. M. Perera Memorial Trust on that day. I had to attend this meeting as I am the chairman of the trust. Therefore, I went out at around 4 pm for the meeting, and it went on even after 6 pm,” he said.
“There is a wrong premise that I absented myself as we differ from Uttara Lanka Sabaga Alliance of which I happened to be a member. This is wrong as we strongly support the 21st amendment, though it was not the best of legislation. We also oppose those with dual citizenship coming to Parliament,” he said
Some 45 members of Parliament were absent when the second reading vote was taken up on the 21st Amendment, while 48 were absent during the third reading.