Sri Lanka - New seating plan in Parliament from today
Updated - 6/1/2009 - DailyMirror.
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New seating arrangements will be made in Parliament today with the National Freedom Front (NFF) deciding to sit on the government side.
Accordingly, eight members of the ruling UPFA will be compelled to occupy benches on the opposition side to make way for the NFF members.
The government group meeting chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees yesterday discussed the new seating arrangement. Political sources said last eight UPFA members who entered Parliament will occupy the opposition benches. MPs Basil Rajapaksa and Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan are among those who entered parliament recently.
However, a top government minister told the Daily Mirror on condition of anonymity that a special arrangement would be made to keep them on the government side deviating from the usual practice.
Minister Mano Wijeratne had said he too used to sit on the opposition side despite being a government member during the time of late President J.R. Jayewardene.
At this moment, the President reportedly said in a lighter vein that there was a time when he was also sidelined as an opposition member despite his party being in power.
"Though I was a government member, there was a time when I had to remain like an opposition member," he said creating ripples of laughter in the group meeting.
In the meantime, the government also agreed to take the UNP sponsored no-confidence motion for debate on Thursday.
President Rajapaksa reportedly instructed the government members to carry on the debate even till late night if the necessity arose, and pledged to assure security in such an eventuality.
The meeting also paid attention to the elections to the Central and Wayamba Provincial Councils. SLFP General Secretary and Minister Maithripala Sirisena made a critical remark at the Ministers representing the districts where the elections are to be held, for not actively participating in the campaign.
"Some Ministers have not gone to their electorates so far. They should start campaigning in their respective areas first before the arrival of Ministers from outside the districts," he said.
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