Parliament to meet sans cabinet, Anura speaker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2000, 17:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament will meet Wednesday sans a cabinet of ministers as President Chandrika Kumaratunga continues to negotiate with senior PA politicians and coalition partners who are tussling and bargaining for plum portfolios in the new government. Meanwhile, the PA and United National Party said that a consensus was possible on electing Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, the President's brother who is an opposition MP, as the speaker of the eleventh Parliament Wednesday.

@@file1@@ The PA's coalition partners, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the Communist Party (CP) and the Sinhala nationalist Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) are pressing for key positions in the cabinet sources said.

Some cabinet portfolios such as the Ministry of Power and Irrigation are being sought by coalition partners as well as PA strongmen government sources said. The EPDP leader Douglas Devananda might seek the deputy ministry for media they added. The delay in forming the cabinet has been further compounded by tensions in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.