Govt. protecting Ranil’s Opposition Leader’s post, says Ekanayake
September 17, 2010 12:15 am
The government has enough Opposition members in its ranks now. Several United National Party (UNP) Parliamentarians apart from the six who voted with the Government for the 18th Amendment wanted to join. But they were not directly accommodated as the Opposition Leader’s position had to be protected, said Deputy Minister of Education T.B. Ekanayake.
If all those who wanted to join the Government were accommodated, Ranil Wickremesinghe would have lost his position as Opposition Leader in Parliament. It would have gone to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said the Kurunegala District United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Kurunegala Parliamentarian.
“We had to protect Ranil Wickremesinghe. We have given him a car as well. Getting a more than two-thirds majority with 161 members voting for in a 225 member House was no mean feat. But now we have enough. Many are still knocking at our door. But we are keeping the door firmly closed,” said the one time Deputy and then Minister of Highways T.B. Ekanayake who id Deputy Minister of Education in the present government while addressing a Jana Hamuwa or a people’s meeting at Polpithigama in Kurunegala on Wednesday.
