Tense situation in the House

by our Parliament correspondents

A tense situation arose in the House yesterday when Chief Government Whip and Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle got involved in a heated argument with Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara.

This was when he rose to answer a question raised by Colombo District UNP MP T. Maheshwaran and Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara declined to give time for Deputy Minister Jagath Pushpakumara to raise a supplementary question following the reply tabled by the Minister with regard to the question raised by T. Maheshwaran.

The Speaker insisted that supplementary questions should be raised in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House.

However, the Minister continued to insist to the Speaker that the Deputy Minister should be given a chance to raise the supplementary question.

The Speaker said all the MPs should adhere to the standing orders of the House as the time allocated for the oral questions had lapsed.

At this point Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike who rose to answer another question raised by Colombo district UNP MP. T. Maheshwaran told the House that all Members of the House should respect to Chair of the Speaker whoever sits there.

"The Members of the House should respect the Chair even when he has taken a wrong decision", the Minister asserted.

Minister Bandaranaike said the Members of the House should follow the speech made by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1995 as the Prime Minister regarding how MPs should behave in the House.

The Speaker said that he has already distributed a copy of her speech among all the Members of the House".

"But we are yet to have the desired result" the Speaker said.