The 41 Parliamentarians who recently withdrew from the Government held a discussion with the Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena today.
MP Duminda Dissanayake said that today’s discussion was held to request the Speaker to recognize them as a separate independent group.
He further said the MPs had also requested the Speaker to allow the group to sit on the Opposition side.
The group consists of the 17 MPs from the 11 constituent parties of the Government including MPs Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, and Vasudeva Nanayakkara.
It also includes 12 MPs from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), 16 MPs from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and 2 MPs from the Ceylon Workers Congress.
The Parliamentarians announced their decision to function independently after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had said he was ready to hand over power to form a government to any group that would show the majority support in Parliament with 113 seats.
The decision was made after the public commenced staging peaceful protests against the President and his Government. (NewsWire)
