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by Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Opposition United National Party has distorted all norms of Parliamentary democracy by getting mudalalis to buy over PA Ministers and politicians, Former Speaker and Gampaha District MP Anura Bandaranaike charged yesterday.

" It was only a year ago that the voters gave the ruling People's Alliance a mandate to govern this country for six more years but the system has been distorted with this new trend which has been indeed very disturbing," Mr. Bandaranaike told the Daily News last night in an exclusive telephone interview.

It is the business tycoons, mudalalis and bookmakers who have been behind this and the voters have been left in the lurch, he noted in disdain.

UNP Chairman Karu Jayasuriya has always maintained that there should be a new political culture in this country and it is absurd that this new disturbing trend has drowned all norms of Parliamentary democracy. So, what is the political ethos that he is talking of when these types of nefarious activities have taken place, he queried.

Commenting further on the PA dissidents he said:" The worst remnants of the SLFP are now in the UNP and there are rumblings within the UNP that seniors have been sidelined. This was evident at the recent press conference when they were seated in the front row.

Commenting on his return to the SLFP, he said:" It was the President who invited me to rejoin the SLFP and also to lead the Gampaha District elections team. We will ensure that we get the maximum majority this time."

Asked about what he thought of the UNP of which he was an MP for the last seven years, Mr. Bandaranaike said:" There was dissent from the UNPers since I did not reconvene Parliament and they unfairly alleged that my decisions as Speaker were biased towards the Government and that I tried to protect the interests of the family and the SLFP.

Under the Constitution which was introduced by the UNP, the summoning, prorogation and dissolving of Parliament lies with the President and that is her sole prerogative. The UNPers are grudging that I did not do that, that is why they have a grouse against me. I cannot violate the Constitution just to please the UNP even if I was a Member of Parliament from that party, he explained.

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