Adjournment debate on President’s Policy Statement next week

November 19, 2024

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Adjournment debate on President’s Policy Statement next week ^Featured

January 04, 2020

An adjournment debate on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s policy statement to Parliament will take place on January 7 and 8.The decision on the adjournment debate was taken during the meeting of political party leaders yesterday (03).Chief Opposition Whip Gayantha Karunatillake told the media during the tea party following President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s speech and formalities of the Ceremonial Opening of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament yesterday that the UNP group would be meeting last evening to make a decision on whether they would support the President’s Policy Statement or not. He said thereafter, the UNP would reveal their stand in Parliament.

Meanwhile, expressing his views regarding the President’s Policy Statement, UNP-MP Sujeewa Senasinghe told the media that while congratulating the new President, Cabinet and the Government, he hoped the government would deliver on their promises.“I know we are from the Opposition, but whatever good deeds that the government does, we will definitely support them. Similarly, if the government fails to keep to its promises, we will definitely criticise them. This will not be done with the intention of discouraging them but to encourage them to work for the people. That way even if we have to take back power after five years, we have to have a prosperous country to take forward. Last time what happened was that we were left with about Rs. 8 trillion in debt and even though we came into power we were not able to do much for the country. Therefore, hopefully this new President has made a lot of promises to the country and without taking a party view on this, I wish him well,” MP Senasinghe said.

At the same, commenting on the current plight of the UNP he said that as the UNP they want to bring a new dimension to the party. “We have a wealth of talent and a very bright bunch of young MPs in Parliament and therefore urge the party leadership and our seniors to pave the way for this young group to take this party forward. I would like to remind them of the glory days of the UNP under the leadership of D.S. Senanayake, J.R. Jayewardene. We have a similar team now, but we have not been given the liberty and freedom to go forward as a party and as a team. So, we would do our best to bring the UNP back to power which would benefit both the party and the country. The foundation for prosperity was laid down by the UNP and for 25 years we have not been able to produce a President for so many reasons which I don’t want to talk about now. We have one principle, first the country and then the party. Hence, I know the UNPers have been disappointed with us but I urge our supporters to bear with us as we will definitely bounce back.

The Easter Sunday terror incident was where the people lost faith in us but we never expected this incident,” he said, adding that no matter what, the party has to face reality and assured that the UNP will definitely bounce back and come back stronger.