No legal basis for demanding dissolution of Parliament - Minister Maithripala Sirisena

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

COLOMBO: There will be no room for a General Election until 2010, said the Secretory General of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Maithripala Sirisena yesterday.

"The Getambe Declaration of the United National Party has urged the Government to dissolve Parliament elected in 2004. There is no reason or legal basis whatsoever to demand the dissolution of Parliament until the next Election scheduled to be held in 2010," Minister Sirisena said.

"The UNP has been mentioning that the Government would collapse within a very short period. First they said Parliament would face dissolution before the New Year in April.

After that in May and August. But it is clear that their is no room or ability to overturn the Government as they boast." He reminded that it was the UNP which erected a barbed wire fence around the Getambe temple in their period. That is the very reason the UNP has lost 14 elections, Minister Sirisena said.

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said the UNP is trying to tarnish the image of the Government. "Sri Lanka has already built a image as the country which has been settling the loans taken from various financial institutions in the world such as the World Bank.

Even though the UNP urges financial institutions not to grant loans to the Sri Lankan Government they have forgotten that they were looking to get Rs. 45,000 million during their regime. The intention of the UNP is clear - they want to prevent development.

"The Government is performing its duty well in searching for peace and it is dealing with the LTTE in the best way.

The Government has been able to capture more areas from the LTTE," Minister Premajayantha pointed out.