SLFP-JVP ministerial dispute resolved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 03:28 GMT]
The politburo of the Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), one of the major constituents of the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Monday night decided to accept one of the two proposals submitted by Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, and to bring the three week old dispute over ministerial and deputy ministerial posts to an end, political sources said.

During the three-hour discussion held by Ms. Kumaratunge with the leaders of the JVP, she submitted two alternative proposals to resolve the crisis within the UPFA, sources said.

One of the proposals was to bring the Mahaveli Development subject under a minister of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), another major constituent of the ruling UPFA. The second proposal was to entrust the designated JVP minister of agriculture with all power to conduct agricultural activities in the Mahaveli area with a newly established statutory authority in charge.

The JVP politburo went into the details of the two proposals Monday evening and finally decided to accept the second proposal to set up an authority for the administration for the agricultural activities under Mahaveli development. The authority will function under the JVP minister designate for agriculture, sources said.

Following this decision, the JVP politburo decided to accept the designated four cabinet rank minister posts and four deputy minister posts granted to it by the UPFA, sources said.