Sirisena says parliament was dissolved to prevent unrest
Colombo, Nov 11: Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday defended his controversial sacking of parliament, saying the decision was taken to prevent violent clashes among rival lawmakers, after Speaker Karu Jayasuriya accused him of "usurping" the rights of legislators.
Sirisena in an address to the nation outlined his reasons for dissolving parliament well ahead of its scheduled closure. Sirisena's decision was criticised by some political parties and civil society groups as unconstitutional and illegal.
He said there were media reports that politicians would clash during a vote to decide between two men claiming the premiership.
On October 26, Sirisena abruptly sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, after three-and-a-half years of an estranged relationship with him.
The island nation plunged into a constitutional crisis following the move. Sirisena had suspended parliamentary proceedings until November 16. Later, owing to domestic and international pressure, he issued a notice to reconvene parliament on November 14.
However, on Friday, Sirisena dissolved parliament and announced snap polls on January 5 next year after it became evident that he did not have enough support in the House to prove the premiership of Rajapaksa.
"If I allowed the parliament to meet on November 14, there would have been violence in the House and it could have spread to our villagers and towns," Sirisena said.
"It was sad that parliamentarians were being traded for rupees 100 to 150 million," Sirisena said, referring to statements made by some of the parliamentarians that they were offered huge money to switch sides.
Sirisena also blamed parliamentary Speaker Jayasuriya for the current political situation.
"The other reason for my dissolution of parliament was the behaviour of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. He issued statements saying that he would not recognise the appointment of a new prime minister using my presidential powers."
He said Jayasuriya's insistence of having a floor test on the very first day of the parliamentary session was unacceptable.
Jayasuriya, earlier, accused Sirisena of "usurping" the rights of legislators.
"I have watched over the last two weeks as the executive branch has seized the rights and usurped the powers of members of parliament who were elected to represent the people," Jayasuriya said.
"I call upon all public servants to refuse to execute any illegal orders they may receive, no matter from whom," he said.
Referring to remarks by Sirisena loyalist Sarath Amunugama, Jayasuriya said, "I lament that the purported foreign minister, a highly regarded politician, has falsely alleged that I intended to prevent the president from delivering the statement of government policy when parliament was set to reconvene on November 14. It is on this imaginary premise that the minister suggests that parliament had to be dissolved."
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RS proceedings adjourned for day amid opposition protest over Adani bribery row, other issues
New Delhi(PTI): Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday as opposition members insisted on a discussion on various issues, including bribery charges related to the Adani Group.
The proceedings were briefly adjourned in the morning session due to opposition protest, and when the House re-assembled at 11.30 AM, there were identical scenes.
This prompted Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to adjourn the proceedings for the day, saying the "House is not in order".
The trobule started after Dhankhar rejected 18 notices under a rule of the House to suspend scheduled business and take up issues mentioned in the notices.
The notices related to demand for 'constitution of a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery, financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities', violence in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and rising incidents of crime in the national capital.
"Upper House needs to reflect and follow well-established traditions that ruling of the Chair requires reference and not cause differences. I have, in detail, given reasons why, in these situations, notices are not being accepted," Dhankhar said while rejecting the notices under Rule 267 of the House.
On Monday also, the Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day during the morning session itself as opposition insisted on raising the issues related to Adani Group.
There was no sitting of the House on Tuesday.
The Adani Group said on Wednesday that Gautam Adani, and his nephew Sagar have not been charged with any violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment that authorities filed in the New York court in an alleged bribery case.
