Opposition still on the fence ....
because Mahinda's group is not independent
Though the UPFA members of parliament of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's faction have decided
to occupy seats in the Opposition in parliament they have still not informed parliament that they are to conduct themselves as an independent group. As a consequence the exact number of members who would be in the Opposition in parliament has not been properly estimated so far. Parliamentary sources say that a problem of allotting them seats under these conditions has now cropped up. It is only 6 MPs of the JVP and the 16 from the Tamil Alliance who have been identified correctly as the Opposition so far. Because of this reason of not expressing that they are independent the proposal brought forward by MP Mr. Welgama which was signed by a group to appoint him as the Opposition Leader too had been rejected by the Speaker and it was because it was for the reason that he is still a shareholder of the SLFP, so to say.It is a problem as to how Mahinda and his group would be engaging in discussions with the Opposition Leader of the Tamil Alliance Sambandan in future and how they would transact the truth. The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna who entertain a totally contradictory view would have to give ear to and conform to demands of the Opposition Leader.
Whatever it is, after the Cabinet take their oaths tomorrow (4), political sources say that it would be possible to differentiate between the government and the Opposition separately.