Rajapaksa supporters walk out of Parliament in Srilanka

The crisis in Sri Lankan parliament continued Friday with the MPs supporting new government of Mahinda Rajapaksa staging a walk out in Parliament on the issue of members to the committee of selection.

The government side has submitted seven names to the committee but speaker Karu Jayasurya agreed for five names in the 12 member committee as the meeting of party leaders Friday morning failed to reach a consensus on the issue.

The government side had requested speaker to continue the stated tradition of granting the majority of the committee to the governing faction.

A government MP protesting the Speaker’s decision said that the government will not accept the Speaker while leader of the house Dinesh Gunawardena accused the Speaker of being biased towards the UNF led by ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe.

Speaker conducted a vote to decide upon committee members but there were no government MPs present in the House during the vote.

Appointment of members to the selection committee was passed with 121 in-favor and none against in the 225 member parliament.

Addressing a press conference later, a government minister said they will not participate in the parliament proceedings till the speaker recognizes the new government and nullify the two no confidence motions passed on Thursday.