2ND LEAD

Samaraweera, Sripathi sit with opposition in SL Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 07:12 GMT]
Mangala Samaraweera, former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister sacked by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa in February and Sripathi Sorriyaarachi, another minister sacked by Mr. Rajapaksa, on Tuesday, sat with the opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament after stating that they wanted to show their displeasure over the policies of their Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent party of the UPFA government, on the present situation.

The parliamentarians didn't specifiy the exact issues when they sat with the opposition in first bench in the Sri Lankan parliament when it resumed the sessions Tuesday noon.

On Monday, a delegation led by Tissa Vitarane, Secretay General of the United National Party (UNP) handed over a motion of non-confidence to the Speaker at his residence, UNP sources said. They have urged the Speaker to debate the motion of non-confidence against Keheliya Rambukwelle, the Sri Lankan minister of foreign employment promotion and welfare, for his recent explanation to the SL parliament that Tamils were expelled from Colombo lodges according to their own will and that the SL government was only assisting the civilians to transport them from Colombo.

The UNP has charged that Mr. Rambukwelle had mislead the Parliament.

Meanwhile, the ruling alliance is also expected to unveil a motion of non-confence against a UNP opposition parliamentarian Luxman Seneviratne who had questioned whether the Rajapaksa Government had a hand in the abduction and killings of ICRC workers.

Chronology: