Opposition submits no confidence motion against the govt.

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 June 2001, 07:03 GMT]
A motion of no confidence against the ruling People's Alliance government, signed by 97 MPs was handed over to the speaker of the house Friday morning. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said it is confident of defeating the government.

Senior leaders of the UNP and MPs of the Tamil United Liberation Front and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress addressed a press conference in Colombo Friday afternoon at the opposition leaders office. They said that they are negotiating with the radical Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna to get its support for the motion.

Meanwhile, the leader of the UNP, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe met the President for discussions about the crisis. Police and troops were deployed in some parts of the capital.

Poster attacking Mr. Rauff Hakeem, the Muslim Congress leader whose sacking from the cabinet precipitated the crisis in the government, appeared in many parts of Colombo city.

Nine MPs representing the Tamil United Liberation Front, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress have signed the motion. Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna which has ten seats, said yesterday that it would announce its decision on Saturday.