Oppn. says Govt. purposely prevented scheduled meeting with FM Secretary and EC

• States a conspiracy is being hatched to postpone the election
• Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena refutes allegation

By Ajith Siriwardana and  Yohan Perera  

The Opposition yesterday alleged that the government purposely prevented the meeting with the Finance Ministry Secretary and the Elections Commission scheduled for yesterday morning to discuss the financial matters concerning the election.  

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament that the government prevented the scheduled meeting claiming that there was a National Security Council (NSC) meeting.  

The Opposition Leader said the claim that there was a NSC meeting was false and questioned how come there was a NSC meeting when the President, Prime Minister and the Defense Minister were in the Chambers. 

 
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena refuting the allegation said that the President came after the NSC meeting and as the Prime Minister, he informed the President he would not attend the meeting.  

Opposition MP Chandima Weerakkody said the conspiracy to postpone the election was still in progress and said the Finance Ministry Secretary was prevented from attending the meeting with the Elections Commission yesterday morning.  

“The Finance Ministry Secretary informed the Elections Commission at the last moment that he could not attend the scheduled meeting as there was a NSC meeting. If there was a serious security issue in the country, how can the President come to Parliament within half an hour. A conspiracy is being hatched to postpone the election,” the MP alleged.