Thursday, Jul 25, 2002
Thursday, Jul 25, 2002 |
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By V.S. Sambandan
The pandemonium broke out after the Leader of the Opposition, Mahinda Rajapakse, made a statement demanding an apology by a Minister, Ravi Karunanayaka, for levelling baseless charges that the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, had brought bombs in her handbag to kill Cabinet Ministers. The Leader of the House, W.J.M Lokubandara, denied that Mr. Karunanayaka had made the accusations, sparking the protests, which intensified when the Government initiated the final debate for passing a Bill to introduce the Value-Added Tax. The Bill was later passed without division as the Opposition persisted with its demand for an apology. None was injured in the brawls — punctuated by parliamentary papers flying across the House and dominated by personalised physical and verbal attacks by MPs — that suspended proceedings for close to an hour, sources in Parliament said. Leaders of both groups blamed each other for the disruption at a hurriedly-convened press conferences this evening. Terming the ruckus as ``a pre-mediated and organised disturbance'', the Cabinet spokesman, G.L. Peiris, said it was done to ``deflect public opinion'' from Mr. Wickremesinghe's meeting with the U.S. President, George W. Bush. Dismissing the Government's charges, Mr. Rajapakse told reporters that the Opposition had carried out its democratic right to protest. On the accusation that it was done to deflect public attention from the Washington visit, Sarath Amunugama, the PA spokesman, said it was ``another of the Government's fantasies'' that the U.S. would help it out of all its troubles. The Opposition also defied the VAT Bill and called upon people not to pay the tax. ``There should be no taxation without representation,'' Mr. Amunugama said. Today's breakdown in Parliament, the second during this month, was over the bizarre charges that have occupied political space for nearly a week. A week ago, Mr. Karunanayake had alleged that Ms. Kumaratunga had brought a handbag fitted with expensive surveillance equipment to a Cabinet meeting. Ms. Kumaratunga countered this by charging that Mr. Karunanayake had actually accused her of bringing a bomb in the handbag to blow up the entire Cabinet and herself. Ms. Kumaratunga, in a letter to Mr. Wickremesinghe before his departure to Washington, termed the Minister's behaviour ``totally unacceptable'' and sought the Prime Minister's views on his continuation in Cabinet. The President's charges were denied by Mr. Peiris, who also said that Ms. Kumaratunga would have to ``mandatorily consult'' Mr. Wickremesinghe, before removing a Minister.
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