Opposing Budget will help ailing LTTE; Pro-LTTE manoeuvres will be defeated :

Govt majority intact - Media Minister Anura Yapa

Rohan MATHES

Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa yesterday reiterated that the Government still has a clear majority in Parliament to defeat the ‘unseen hand’ striving to resuscitate the weakened LTTE at this crucial juncture.

Addressing journalists at the weekly Cabinet briefing at the Government Information Department Auditorium in Narahenpita, Minister Yapa was of the firm view that at a decisive period when the LTTE was on the verge of being completely annihilated militarily, certain politicians were engaged in political manoeuvres to permit ‘breathing space’ to the LTTE.

“We have no problem whatsoever in maintaining a majority in Parliament and winning the Budget vote. While defeating the LTTE militarily, we will in due course, take the necessary steps to defeat these political manoeuvres as well”, Minister Yapa said.

“Therefore, if we are not encountering any impediments in the process and are able to sail smoothly, there is no reason whatsoever to dissolve Parliament.

On that basis the next election would be held in 2010”, Minister Yapa added.

Fielding questions from journalists Minister Yapa further said that a majority of the minority parties who are also sons of Sri Lanka, are with the Government and losing the support of a few of them, by no means would weaken the Government.

It also does not imply that the minorities are aggrieved with the Government and therefore withdrawing their support to it.

Responding to a question pertaining to the support of the CWC at the ‘Third Reading of the Budget’, Minister Yapa stated that as a political party they could have their own views.

However, to this moment he was still confident the CWC would extend its support to the government this time too.

Answering a query on the curtailment of former Minister Rauf Hakeem’s security staff, Minister Yapa stated that as a Minister he was entitled to a specific security staff and later when he made a personal decision to resign from his portfolio as Minister, he was again entitled to a pre-determined staff as a normal routine.