President Ranil Wickremesinghe has refuted allegations raised by the Opposition that he violated an agreement they had with the BAR Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) during the political crisis in Sri Lanka in May last year.
Addressing the Parliament today (Nov 24), the President responded to allegations raised by Tamil National Alliance MP M.A. Sumanthiran, claiming that the President violated the agreement proposed by the BASL and took over the premiership under Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The President said that it was claimed that an agreement had been reached between former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, all political parties, and the BASL to first abolish the executive presidency.
It was also claimed that an agreement had also been reached among the groups to appoint a person outside the political arena as the Prime Minister by providing a National List seat to enter Parliament, he said.
The President, however, said he was not convened by the BASL or had signed any document, adding that the copy of the alleged document on the agreement mentioned by MP Sumanthiran had not contained any signatures, when he received it.
President Wickremesinghe revealed that some Opposition parliamentarians had met the BASL and held a discussion on how to resolve the political crisis, while the BASL had also met former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“The discussion with Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not to offer the post of Prime Minister to the Opposition Leader, but to offer it to someone outside the political arena and to offer a National List seat to the selected person to enter Parliament,” he said.
The President further revealed that the BASL was under the impression that the role of Prime Minister would be offered to then BASL President Saliya Peiris, adding that, however, the incidents that took place at the Galle Face Green on May 09 changed the outcome.
Responding to the President’s claims, TNA MP Sumanthiran clarified that he had not claimed that political parties had signed the BASL document.
Taking to ‘X’, MP Sumanthiran pointed out that the President’s acknowledgement of receiving a copy of the said document confirms that there was in fact such a document.
“I thank @RW_UNP for confirming what I said in Parliament and further stating that the BASL document was discussed with @GotabayaR and other political party leaders and that even he had a copy of same. The insinuation he made against @saliyapieris was false and must be denounced,” he added. (NewsWire)