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If President respects opinion of House, he should first conduct elections, says Kiriella

Published

3 years ago

2023/08/8

By Saman Indrajith

The SJB has urged President Ranil Wickremesinghe to prove his claim that he respects the opinion of Parliament by holding elections. Addressing the media in Colombo on Saturday, Chief Opposition Whip, Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella said that the President had said the government would heed only the opinion of Parliament as regards the domestic debt optimisation process. “If so, the Executive should release the funds to conduct elections. The same Parliament passed Rs 10 billion in the last Budget for conducting local council polls this year. If the President respects the opinion of the House he should release the funds allocated by Parliament for elections. He should not be selective in respecting the opinion of Parliament, Kiriella said, adding that the incumbent government would not hold elections as long as its survey reports indicate a debilitating defeat for it. “The of surveys conducted by the government itself have predicted a humiliating defeat for the ruling alliance if the elections are held. If the surveys and opinion polls had predicted otherwise, the government would have gone for elections. As long as this situation remains, it will not dare to hold elections,” Kiriella said.

The government and its ministers were speaking of ways and means of dissolving powers to provinces and grassroots, Kiriella said. “This, too, is not a genuine effort to devolve powers. How could one expect the government to devolve powers to provinces and grassroots when it keeps postponing the Provincial Council and Local Government polls?”

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Related Topics:Lakshman Kiriella Mp Lakshman Kiriella

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Ministerial Committee appointed to submit recommendations on proposed program to mitigate loss of crops to wild animals

Published

13 mins ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The rural agricultural livelihood and food security have been severely impacted due to the damage caused by wild animals such as elephants, wild boars, monkeys, toque macaque, squirrels, and peacocks roaming around human habitats and cultivated lands.

Animal-human conflicts and property destruction have mostly been reported around these areas, and serious social and economic issues have also arisen.

Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation has prepared a comprehensive program based on the opinions of all stakeholders, including the public, university community, farmers’ organizations, environmentalists, non-governmental organizations which work for environmental issues, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Development, and other relevant organizations.

Taking into consideration the report submitted by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation, the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to appoint a ministerial committee with the participation of other relevant ministers, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation, to submit appropriate recommendations on how the aforementioned program should be implemented by further reviewing the proposals included in the said program and incorporating new proposals.

News

Cabinet approves import of Maize to meet shortfall

Published

1 hour ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to determine the price of the maize by a committee appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation in the future and to import only the quantity of maize that could not be supplied locally for the production of animal feed, under the supervision of the Department of Animal Production and Health.

Business

Cabinet nod for the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported good

Published

1 hour ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the joint resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development and the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to phase the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported goods under 2,634 combined classification codes identified over 4 years [from 2026 to 2029\.