UNP Puttalam district Member of Parliament Palitha Range Bandara yesterday slammed his party general secretary  Tissa Attanayaka over his failure to take disciplinary action against another UNP member.

Speaking to Daily Mirror online, Bandara warned that he would be compelled to re-consider his position in the UNP if Attanayaka failed to take appropriate action against the member within the next two weeks. Bandara wants disciplinary action against UNP member Shantha Abeysekera who was arrested and later released on bail over a brutal assault on Bandara during the run up to the recent General Elections. The UNP MP was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) following the assault and only recently was seen in public in Parliament in a wheelchair with bandages and sutures on his head, arms and legs. Bandara said that he had to fight several lawsuits on behalf of the party and yet the party had failed to stand by him by taking appropriate action against Abeysekera.  Bandara said he would brief the media on his next step within the next two weeks if Attanayaka failed to act. Reponding to the concerns raised by Bandara, UNP general secretary Tissa Attanayaka told Daily Mirror Online that a charge sheet had already been filed against Shantha Abeysekera and action could be taken only after he responded to the charges against him.  It is worth noting that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had contacted the family of the UNP MP when he was in hospital and offered him full medical assistance.

UNP MP Sajith Premadasa has stressed the need for the party to adopt a ‘modern political path’ by criticising the government constructively.

Addressing a ‘Jathika Jeewaya’ rally in Sunilagama, Yatinuwara, Mr. Premadasa said he never said Thoppigala was a forest.

“I never said that our troops were heading towards Medawachchiya instead of Kilinochchi, or towards Pamankada instead of Alimankada. We have to appreciate what is correct and criticise what is wrong only,” he said. Mr. Premadasa emphasised the need to empower the grassroots level membership of the UNP instead of relying on those clad in ties and coats.He said the grievances of grassroots level members should be addressed in the most meticulous manner in a unique and distinguished political culture, which he vowed to introduce to the country very soon.“In this new political culture, we have to praise our political opponents when they do something good. Otherwise, we have to criticise them constructively.  Unfortunately, the UNP does not have a proper decision making system.  That is why, we could not support the war effort,” he said.  (Read More)

Democratic Peoples Front Leader Mano Ganesean has informed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that there is no need for any meeting with him regarding the national list issue.Mr. Ganesan made this clear in a letter addressed to Mr. Wickremesinghe yesterday. “No more personal meetings are necessary with you as we are convinced that you have deceived my party and the Tamil people. And we consider the national list dispute over’ said Mr. Ganesan in his four-sentenced letter to the UNP leader in respeonse to his letter on May 10. Mr. Wickremesinghe had sent this letter to Mr. Ganesan prior to his departure to India

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mrs. Sumeda G. Jayasena said yesterday that she intended to seek the Cabinet approval next week for the issuance of duty-free vehicle permits for the MPs.

Mrs. Jayasena said she would consult the other party leaders in Parliament before taking a decision on this matter.

She said the MPs who had completed five years in Parliament would be entitled to this benefit, along with those who had elected to the House for the first time without representing any Provincial Council earlier. (Read More)

The Government has declined to offer the chairmanships of the Parliamentary Committees on Public Accounts (PAC) and Public Enterprises (COPA) to the Opposition, which the main opposition UNP cited as a breach of Parliamentary traditions.

The two bodies are considered the Parliamentary watchdogs on public finances. Each body comprises 31 members representing all the political parties in the House. They have powers to examine financial activities of any State institution and report to the House. During the last Parliament, the PAC, under the chairmanship of SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, exposed the multi-billion rupee VAT fraud along with those responsible for it. (Read More)

Although the release of a report on the proposed reforms of the UNP is scheduled for Friday, a majority of the party Working Committee members including parliamentarians have not made their submissions yet.

There are 77 Working Committee members and 48 parliamentarians but not even one fourth of them had sent in their suggestions, sources said. (Read More)

Mr. Wickremesinghe had mentioned this to senior party members hours before embarking on a personal visit to India on Monday, UNP sources said. (Read More) 

UNP MP Sajith Premadasa yesterday said that the modernization process of the UNP should be an open, transparent and democratic process and not a process whereby a single voice or single opinion dominates the whole agenda.

During a live audio broadcast on Daily Mirror Online yesterday, MP Premadasa said “You have the deputy leader’s position, the national organizers’ position, various assistant secretaries and several other positions and responsibilities attached to the party constitution. So the modernization process should be an open, transparent and democratic process and not a process whereby a single voice or single opinion dominates the whole agenda which is why we are going by a process which includes all the pressure groups and organizations in the party.(Read More)