Jeyaraj scoffs National Govt rumours

Rasika Somaratne and Chaminda Perera

Scoffing the recent rumours regarding a National Government in the offing, Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said yesterday that the present regime did not have any intention or need of forming one, under the Premiership of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Reiterating the Government’s stability in Parliament, Fernandopulle stressed that the next General Election would be in 2010 and it was upto the President to take a decision on whether the country needs an election before that.

While ridiculing the UNP’s “people’s petition” as a futile effort, Fernandopulle said, as a responsible political party, it should not hinder the Governments development agenda or the battle against terrorism.

He added that the opinion within the UNP itself was divided with regard to its chances at a general election with an overwhelming majority making statements against the move.

The claims by the Ranil-Mangala union about defeating the Budget on December 14 was merely to dupe the masses, Fernandopulle said. He added that they were having discussions with five UNP MPs with regard to possible crossovers, with two confirming that they would either vote in consent or abstain.

He also said some Government MPs had been offered bribes to crossover with the backing of some who support the LTTE with the sole purpose of purporting the advances of Security Forces as the Government would not be able to finance security from January in case of the budget being defeated.