Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have decided to boycott former Parliamentarians’ meeting convened by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on May 4 to discuss the current situation in the country.
SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara said about 70 former MPs belonging to the SJB decided not to attend the May-4 meeting.
However, the United National Party (UNP) has decided to participate in the meeting with the Prime Minister, Party General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said.
Kariyawasam said his party would participate in the meeting with Prime Minister Rajapaksa and added that the party hierarchy would meet on May 3 to make a decision on the points they should raise at the meeting with the Prime Minister.
JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in a letter to the Prime Minister has stated that they would boycott former MPs’ meeting at Temple Trees on May 4. Dissanayake in his letter said that “it was not a constructive move to convene the 225 former Parliamentarians to Temple Trees instead of reconvening Parliament which has constitutional powers to seek ideas of the situation and combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Dissanayake said, “We also stress that in a situation where no action has been taken to form a common mechanism to face this pandemic as proposed by us and several other parties, it is pointless to convene a meeting of former MPs.”
He asked the Government to arrange a meeting with all political party leaders to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. He said, “Former JVP MPs would not attend the former MPs’ meeting as they don’t deem it to be fruitful to educate the former MPs about a constitutional crisis created by the Government.”