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Govt. wins vote as JVP abstains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Sri Lanka government has won the vote for the third reading of the budget vote as a major opposition party abstained from voting. 114 parliamentarians voted for the budget as 67 MPs voted against. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the party that voted against the Rajapaksa government on 19 November, abstained from voting. Jathika Hela Urumaya, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Up Country Peoples Front (UPF) and JVP dissident Nandana Gunathilake voted with the government. Anura B absent JHU dissident, Uduwe Dhammaloka thero, and parliamentarian Putra Singamani also voted with the government while four Sri Lanka Muslim congress (SLMC) legislators voted against. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem and three other members crossed over to the opposition on Wednesday.
Minister Anura Bandaranaike, who crossed over to the opposition earlier on the day, was absent while Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) dissident Wijedasa Rajapaksa abstained from voting. Former National Heritage minister Bandaranaike is the only son of two previous Prime Ministers and the brother of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The main opposition and the SLFP dissident group, (SLFP -m) vowed to topple the government at the third round of voting. But the government insisted that the party had enough support to win the crucial vote. TNA MPs threatened The JVP that voted against the budget for the second reading reiterated that the party's policy has not changed as the proposals have no been changed since then.
Four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were absent in the parliament on Friday. TNA legislator Suresh Premachandran told the parliament on Wednesday that P. Ariyanethran's elder brother, S.Jeyanandamoorthy's nephew and K.Thangeswary's Secretary were abducted by Pilliaiya group in Batticaloa on Tuesday. Making a special statement to the parliament, he said the MPs were threatened by the paramilitary group not to vote against the budget proposals. All three MPs and lawmaker Eelavendran were absent in the parliament on Friday. | LOCAL LINKS  EU concerned on kidnappings 13 December, 2007 | Sandeshaya Legislators' relatives 'abducted'12 December, 2007 | Sandeshaya Govt not sympathetic to minority - Hakeem12 December, 2007 | Sandeshaya SLMC issues 'ultimatum '09 December, 2007 | Sandeshaya Opposition legislators 'intimidated'19 November, 2007 | Sandeshaya Government wins budget vote19 November, 2007 | Sandeshaya | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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