President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (10) responded to comments by the Opposition and its allies on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution and the court ruling on Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Ratnapura District Parliamentarian Premalal Gunasekara.

Referring to the allegations by the Opposition during today’s meeting with State Ministers held at the Presidential Secretariat President Rajapaksa said the objective of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution is to remove the obstacles imposed by the 19th Amendment and move forward.

“Everything cannot be changed overnight. It takes a long time. Various views have been expressed. We want to retain some of the features of the 19th Amendment. The primary objective is to keep the tenure of the President unchanged and to move forward,” the President explained. 

Responding to the accusations made by the opposition regarding the member of Parliament Premalal Jayasekera, President Rajapaksa emphasized that neither he nor the Prime Minister did intervene in the procedures of the court.

“If the intention was to influence in this regard it should have been done at the High Court stage. Something of this nature never occurred. The verdict was given by the judge who was appointed by the Constitutional Council. Members of the Constitutional Council included personnel from Opposition such as Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and Thalatha Atukorale. One decision is acceptable for the opposition while the other is not,” the President said.

The President observed that Judge of the Court of Appeal was also appointed by the Constitutional Council itself and added that the Opposition is running a false propaganda campaign in this regard.

-PMD