Ranil’s demand leads to heated exchange between Government and Opposition

A heated argument ensued in Parliament yesterday following a demand by UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that the government table the Yugadanavi agreement and the report of the Glasgow Summit attended by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The UNP leader said Sinhala and Tamil translations of the documents should be made available.

“Several parties have not yet seen the Yugadanavi agreement and we want to study it prior to making our observations,” he said.

Leader of the House and Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardena: “The COP20 summit held in Glasgow is a very important event and the President not only participated in it but also carried out part of the responsibility as the co-lead. However, as it was issued in English, we will first table the English document in Parliament and thereafter the two translations.”

Minister Gunawardena said that the relevant minister would table the Yugadanavi agreement in Parliament in the near future.

Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella said that the subject minister had given an incomplete answer. “In fact, it was said in public by several ministers that the Yugadanavi agreement had not been presented to the Cabinet. A government minister himself has said so.”

Minister Gunawardena said that as the subject minister had given a response, there was no need to drag the matter further as 50 questions remained to be answered.

UNP leader Wickremesinghe said that as several parties needed to make decisions based on the contents of those reports, they had to be tabled in Parliament.

Minister Gunawardena: “If these documents were required urgently, a meeting of the Consultative Committee could be summoned and the Speaker could then issue an order under standing orders to make them available to you within 48 hours.”

(Source: The Island – By Saman Indrajith)