Only option for the PM is to step down: Dilan

30 March 2018 06:26 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 36 Bookmark

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The only option to prevent the removal of the prime minister on a no-confidence motion and protect the yahapalana government was for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down before April 4, State Minister Dilan Perera said today.

He said the UPFA, SLFP and the UNP wanted to protect the government and continue till 2020 but the only roadblock was the Prime Minister and therefore he should resign from the post and save himself, President Maithripala Sirisena, the government and the country from embarrassment and indignity.

The state minister told a media conference no one wants an election or to topple the government but for more that two and half years the SLFP did its best to minimize the damages caused by the bond scam to the economy, country and to good governance but the PM blocked them all.

"The constituent partners of good governance like the TNA, the SLMC, the ACMC, the National Union of Workers and the Democratic People’s Front must vote for the motion if they want to save the government," the state minister said. “We wanted political and legal measures against perpetrators of the bond scam and the damages recovered. Nothing happened. Then we proposed to the President to appoint a committee and the result was a 11-member committee led by Minister Nimal Siriripala De Silva. We submitted a report after a thorough inquiry of the bond scandal. Most of the allegations in the motion against the Prime Minister were based on the findings of this report. Legal and political remedial measures on the bond scandal have started now.”

Commenting on Minister Wajira Abeywardana's comments that the Premier could be replaced only if he commited suicide, was assassinated or stepped down was wrong because the President was mandated to appoint a Prime Minister if and when a no-confidence motion was passed in Parliament. (Sandun A Jayasekera)