Sri Lanka: Parliament adjourned minutes after commencing

sl-ananda-kumarasiri-bhanu Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri adjourns the parliament | Bhanu Prakash Chandra

Minutes after commencing the session, the Sri Lankan parliament was adjourned until Friday.

But parties have decided to form a select committee to conduct parliamentary affairs following a power struggle set off by President Maithripapala Sirisena's controversial decision to remove prime minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe last month.

Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri, who chaired the session, stated that the decision was taken according to an agreement at the party leader's meeting earlier in the day.

The trust vote testing the majority of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was not carried out. Though some MPs called for the motion stating the prevailing situation in the country, the opposition camp protested strongly.

The decision came a day after an all-party meeting called by President Sirisena to resolve the crisis ended inconclusively.

The leaders from Wickremesinghe's United National Front, Tamil National Alliance and the JVP or the People's Liberation Front discussed the proposal by Sirisena made at the all party meeting to have a floor test by name or electronic vote for the third motion of no trust against Rajapaksa.

Mano Ganesan, one of the leaders who attended the meeting, said the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA of Sirisena and Rajapaksa) "flatly refused and backtracked" on the proposal.

During Monday's session, Dinesh Gunawardena on behalf of the disputed government of Rajapaksa asked the deputy speaker that since they were the government they should have the majority in the select committee.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake argued that since the Rajapaksa government had not proved their majority the select committee should have a majority of members from the group that commands majority.

Monday's session was conducted peacefully. Last week Sri Lanka's parliament witnessed unprecedented violence as lawmakers threw furniture and chilli powder at each other.

Meanwhile, a motion was moved to halt the funding of the prime minister's office at the party leaders' meeting today. Around 130 members got a motion tabled to stop funds to PM's secretariat.While the move can be done for other departments, this is a token move targeting the PM post. It was to be tabled today, the discussion and voting will be held on November 29.

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