Govt committed to maximum devolution of power

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Rajmi Manatunga and Irangika Range

KOTTE: The Government is committed to maximum devolution of power within a unitary State, Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle told Parliament yesterday.

Responding to a special statement made by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa, Fernandopulle who is also the Chief Government Whip said the Government was amenable to power-sharing arrangement, provided that it preserves the unitary nature of the constitution.

“This is the position of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and that of the Government,” he said.

Addressing Parliament JVP Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa said the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) was formulating a federal solution to the national problem in contravention of the mandate received by the Government.

The President received a majority vote of the last election to preserve the unitary nature of the State. That is why people voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa over the UNP Presidential candidate who pledged to transform Sri Lanka into a federal State,” he said.

Weerawansa said that a handful of political parties supporting the Government were engaged in a conspiracy to make Sri Lanka a federal State and thus divide it on ethnic lines, at the instigation of certain foreign powers.