"We all must resign and hand over the government to Gotabaya Rajapaksa" : Nalin Bandara

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Convening a media briefing today, MP Keheliya Rambukwella stressed that respecting the people's mandate, the government must hand over the power of governance to the President. UPFA MP Keheliya Rambukwella noted that the current government should choose the ethical path as they were rejected by the people twice in the past 05 years. He added that the government was rejected first during the provincial council election and then the recent presidential election. "Therefore, at a time when we speak of political ethics, we believe the government would follow the moral path of the late DS Senanayake and respect the mandate of the people" he added. Meanwhile, young parliamentarians representing the UNP believe, they should respect the mandate of the people and allow the President to form a new government. However, they do not agree with holding a General Election prior to the end of the tenure of the current parliament. Nalin Bandara, Deputy Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade: "I can say that obtaining cabinet approval for the MCC agreement at the wrong time, to some extent led to our defeat. The fact that Sajith Premadasa did not have sufficient funds, was another main reason. During his 25 years in politics, Sajith Premadasa did not earn or loot even a cent. He never created any business class targeting the election. We have a question as to who coordinated and managed the funds that the party received, and whether these funds were collected in the proper manner, and used for campaigning activities. Why should we continue as a government, falsely claiming we have a two-third majority. Why should we continue without the powers of a president? We have no intention to obstruct Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government during those three months. What we should do now is, without further delay, we must all resign from the government, and handover this government to Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his team. Some of us want to dissolve parliament before the end of the four months. We are at a disadvantage if we dissolve parliament and hold parliamentary elections ahead of time. The people have the opportunity to see whether promises were fulfilled. Minister Vajira Abeywardena with great enthusiasm said we must support them to hold a parliamentary election. This is their agreement. Vajira Abeywardena during his political career mostly engaged in corrupt deals, while he served in the opposition. Those involved in such political deals, together with the prime minister are supporting the Rajapaksa's to succeed this three-month hurdle. They now try to blame Sajith Premadasa for their party's defeat and escape this matter. The few people who worked towards the defeat of Sajith Premadasa are now trying to support the Rajapaksa's to win the parliamentary election, and serve as the leader of the opposition and general secretary, and take power in 2025." Journalist: During the meeting in parliament yesterday, did you express your view to the Prime Minister? Nalin Bandara: We expressed our view. We said we must handover this government. However, the prime minister said we must discuss this matter today. Ranil Wickremesinghe has no reason to discuss with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as to whether we remain in the government or not. The prime minister ideally should discuss this matter with us. Journalist: Will Sajith Premadasa retire from politics in the future? Nalin Bandara: I don't know. I think he is disappointed. He does not crave for power. That is why he said, if the people of this country did not give him power while he is strong, he would think twice about it. Journalist: Rumour has it, the party leadership will be given to Karu Jayasuriya. Nalin Bandara: I am not aware of that. But with his age, you must think about his ability to take over the party.