Parliamentarian S B Dissanayake and Dilan Perera will lose their parliamentary seats consequent to taking membership of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), General Secretary of the SLFP Dayasiri Jayasekara told the Sunday Observer.
“We will take action considering that they have abandoned the party. As they have taken the membership of another party, they would lose membership of our party. In that context they would lose their Parliamentary seats too,” Jayasekara said, commenting on Dilan and S.B.
He blamed the SLPP for taking their members while talks are ongoing to merge the two parties.
Jayasekara told the Sunday Observer yesterday that the Party deeply regrets about not taking disciplinary action against those who have gone against the party constitution since 2015.
UPFA Parliamentarian Kumara Welgama said it is the Chairman of the SLFP who should decide whether or not to remove a member from his parliamentary seat.
“Mahinda Rajapaksa and a majority of our Parliamentary group except me and a few others received the SLPP membership during the 52-day government, last year. But when Parliament was reconvened by the judiciary they denied obtaining SLPP membership because they were afraid to lose their Parliamentary seat, Welgama said.
He said, had it not been for a letter issued by the UPFA Secretary, Mahinda Amaraweera endorsing that they did not leave the UPFA, none of them would be in Parliament today.
However, the SLFP has a lethargic history of maintaining its discipline since the ‘Mahinda Sulanga’ rally in Nugegoda in 2015. SLFP strongman Kumara Welgama was also among the SLFPers who joined them, going against the party decision to boycott the rally.
“We went against the party decision at that time. But we did not go there as members of another party. Nevertheless, as there was no disciplinary action taken those days, no one is afraid to do so now” Welgama said.