The Hindu : Chandrika asks Ranil to represent her in Parliament

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 13, 2003

International

International

Chandrika asks Ranil to represent her in Parliament

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO DEC. 12. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has requested the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to represent her in Parliament next week when the vote for the annual budget of three Ministries, constitutionally taken over by her on November 4, is taken up.

The offer, along with a separate suggestion made by her to create a Ministerial post for national security, are the latest two proposals to overcome Sri Lanka's month-long political impasse. The Prime Minister's office has not yet responded to the suggestion that Mr. Wickremesinghe should present the Ministerial demands when they are debated, but the spokesman for Ms. Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA), Sarath Amunugama, expressed "optimism'' that the impasse would be resolved.

Pointing out that there were precedents for both offers, Dr. Amunugama said Deputy Ministers had in the past presented Ministerial demands in Parliament for portfolios held by the President. The budget vote on the Ministries of Defence, Interior and Mass Communications are scheduled for a Parliamentary vote on December 17.

Despite talks between a joint committee of officials appointed by the President and the Prime Minister, the impasse continues with no agreement between the two on the sensitive Defence portfolio.

After Ms. Kumaratunga took control over the three Ministries, Mr. Wickremesinghe renounced responsibility for the peace process citing lack of authority over the Defence Ministry.

The Norwegian facilitators, for their part, put the peace process formally on hold "until clarity was reached'' on the southern political situation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who unilaterally pulled out of talks in April and subsequently proposed the creation of an interim self-governing authority for the northeast with a majority stake for the LTTE on October 31, has charged Ms. Kumaratunga with "severely damaging the peace process.''

SLFP-JVP alliance

On the progress of the talks for an electoral pact between Ms. Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the spokesman said an agreement was reached between the two parties, but the Left parties, such as the Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which were a part of the PA, had not yet consented.

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