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by Kuliyapitiya Group Corrospondent

Even if the UNP gets a majority at the forthcoming election, Ranil Wickremesinghe will not be able to become the Prime Minister due to JR's Constitution, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and LSSP General Secretary, Batty Weerakoon said. Addressing a political seminar in Kurunegala, Weerakoon said:

According to the Constitution of JR, the President has all the executive powers. She has the authority to appoint any MP who she believes could get the majority support of the Parliament. That is clearly stated in the Constitution. No Supreme Court interpretation is necessary for that clause.

The Minister added that the Constitution had devalued Parliament. The late Mr. Premadasa during his tenure of office as the Primier had admitted that his powers were not more than those of a peon.

"If the President believes that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe could get the majority support in Parliament she would appoint him PM. And at the same time the Cabinet of Ministers would be appointed by her at her own discretion. She herself could hold any number of Ministerial portfolios. Finally the President would be the Head of State, Head of Government, Head of the Cabinet and Commander in Chief of the three Forces. She could exercise her executive powers until mid 2005. This state of affairs would lead to a Constitutional crisis, as a result development would be held up'.

"A few PA Parliamentarians crossed over to the UNP on October 10th following a political conspiracy. They had conspired not against the PA but against the people who voted for them. That was a long standing conspiracy. It was the brainchild of Prof. G. L. Peiris and S. B. Dissanayake who put that into practice.

He had first suggested to the President to form a dictatorial government. She refused that. His second attempt was to form a National Government. National Governments are formed to solve a particular issue. S. B. Dissanayake's proposed National Govertnment had no such issues the only motive in that move was to let Ranil Wickremesinghe enter the Government.

"He was well aware that he could not come to power by an election. His chances of getting appointed as P.M. was very remote. So he tried to capture the powers of the Parliament through a conspiracy. GL and SB wanted a right wing government in the guise of a National Government. We in the left protested against that move. When that conspiracy too failed the dissidents crossed over".

The General Secretary, CPSL Dew Gunasekera said that neither the President nor the Premier would be changed after December 5th, but the UNP leadership would be changed.

"The other UNP leaders had projects to their credit, Mr. Premadasa had Udagam, Mr. Gamini Disanayake had Mahaveli and Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali had Mahapola. But Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe had nothing except Batalanda. He was such an inefficient man when compared to other UNP leaders."

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