'Budget will further strenghten govt's majority

Chamikara Weerasinghe

The Government majority is expected to be further reinforced by the budget, said Plantation and Industries Minister D.M. Jayaratna.

Jayaratna was participating at plantation development project in Kalmunai, Ampara, where 5,000 coconut saplings were distributed among the families of Kalmunai Divisional Secretariat under the Coconut Trangle.

There will be no difficulty in getting the budget passed in the Parliament because the Government has 119 MPs on its side, the Minister said.

He said, the Government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa will prevail, undisturbed for another three years without being affected by a general election within that term.

"Hence, the time has come for every individual to work with the government no matter what political party they belonged to said Minister Jayaratne.

Jayaratna said a whole section of the UNP parliamentarians had joined the Government because they were satisfied with the Government's development programmes.

"It will be the duty on the part of everyone to support the common good without dividing," he said.

He said one of the main reasons behind rising cost- of-living, was the ethnic question.

"Everyone should support solving this problem by putting away their party differences," he added.

"The war kills people without any ethnic differences," he said. Deputy Higher Education Minister Myon Mustafa was also present.`