Diana petitions SC against SJB move to sack her

‘She switched her allegiance to SLPP by voting for 20A’

By Chitra Weerarathne and Shamindra Ferdinando

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) National List MP Diana Gamage has sought the intervention of the Supreme Court to thwart a move to expel her from the party.

Gamage says that in case the party went ahead with its decision, she would lose her parliamentary seat.

The SJB says MP Gamage has been expelled because she voted for the 20 A to the Constitution submitted by the government. The controversial Amendment received a two-thirds majority in Parliament in Oct. 2020.

The petitioner has requested the SC to direct the Elections Commission and the Secretary General of Parliament not to take action against her.

Among the respondents are SJB Secretary General Ranjith Madduma Bandara and its leader Sajith Premadasa. Diana Gamage, in her petition alleged that the party deprived her of a fair hearing before her expulsion from the party.

The SJB secured 54 seats at the last parliamentary elections held in August 2020. Gamage was among the seven National List lawmakers appointed on the SJB list. Other than Gamage, the SJB accommodated former UNP MPs on its National List. They are Tissa Attanayake, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Harin Fernando, Mayantha Dissanayake, Eran Wickremaratne and Imthiaz Bakeer Markar.

Gamage joined fellow SJB MPs Ishaq Rahuman, M. Raheem, Nasir Ahmed, Mohomed Harris, Faizal Cassim, Aravind Kumar and M.S. Thowfeek to vote for the 20A.

In the run-up to the 2020 parliamentary polls, the rebel UNP group took over ‘Ape Jathika Peramuna’ formed by Diana Gamage’s husband Senaka de Silva, one-time top aide to General Sarath Fonseka and registered it as Samagi Jana Balavegaya under controversial circumstances. In terms of the agreement between Senaka de Silva and the UNP rebel group, Diana Gamage received a National List slot, in addition to her being named the Deputy Secretary General of the SJB.

Civil society activist and one-time media head of President Maithripala Sirisena’s social media unit Oshala Herath, an unsuccessful UNP candidate at the last parliamentary election, made an abortive bid to thwart the re-registration of Ape Jathika Peramuna as Samagi Jana Balavegaya. The attempt was made before Herath received nomination from the UNP to contest the Colombo District at the 2020 election.

An SJB official told The Island that Diana Gamage couldn’t represent the SLPP at the expense of her own party. She had even attended a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat, chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the official said, pointing out that she crossed the line when she voted for the 20 A contrary to a decision taken by the party.

Now that Gamage has switched her allegiance to the SLPP, the SJB had felt the need to bring the matter to a conclusion by removing her, the official said.