- Dayasiri insists on them resigning from Ministerial posts
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stated that discussions are currently underway regarding the re-joining of its members whose Party memberships were recently suspended for accepting Ministerial and State Ministerial positions against the decision of its Central Committee.
During a media briefing held at the SLFP Headquarters in Colombo on Tuesday (4), the Party’s General Secretary and Opposition Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara was queried by the media as to whether there was any preparation for the 14 SLFP members who were suspended from the Party for accepting Ministerial positions in the Government, to rejoin.
In response, Jayasekara said: “We had a discussion on the matter. We have a proper understanding that it is a must for the Party to be united. If we can get all of them to join the SLFP again, it is very good. However, we took the decision to suspend their Party memberships as they accepted Ministerial posts against the decision of the Party. Therefore, if they are to re-join us, they should leave those portfolios and do so. That is because a Party cannot move forward when a group of it is in the Government and the other is in the Opposition.”
He said that the SLFP members who accepted Ministerial posts had themselves come and discussed the matter with them (the SLFP faction that represents the Opposition). “We are trying to take this towards a progressive direction. Let’s see what will happen in the future,” he said, and added however that the disciplinary inquiries which were initiated against the said group of members are still ongoing. “We can conclude the disciplinary inquiries only after the resolution of the issue. They will continue until then,” he said.
The SLFP recently decided to suspend the Party memberships of 14 SLFP members and MPs and among them were Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mahinda Amaraweera and State Ministers Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Chamara Sampath Dasanayake, and Jagath Pushpakumara. They had also been removed from their respective positions in the Party.
Source By themorning.lk
