JVP threatens to lay siege to House till present Parliament is dissolved as per people’s demand

JVP trade union wing leader and former MP K. D. Lalkantha on Monday said that the day to end people’s struggle, demanding change, will soon be announced.

Addressing a public rally in Thambuttegama, Lalkantha said that his party had been in discussion with many other parties, trade unions, religious and civil society leaders, artistes, intellectuals and lawyers to decide on the next phase of the struggle.

“That date will soon be announced. It will be the date that ends the ongoing people’s struggle. It will be a day of parliamentary sitting. When all these MPs go there we will surround it and close down all the roads demanding that they pass a motion to dissolve the current parliament. We get them to pass it. With that we can get the next election and it would end this struggle.”

Lalkantha said that when the date was announced, setting a deadline for the current Parliament to decide its own dissolving.

“I am telling the MPs now to get ready to vote in keeping with the people’s wishes. People know that the rulers are engaged in enacting a drama hoping for a miracle to save them. For example, look at the Deputy Speaker election fiasco. Ranjith Siyambalapitya resigned from the Deputy Speaker post. When there was an election to fill the vacancy, he contested and won. The following day he resigned again. By enacting such dramas, they waste our money. We have to end this. I can assure the 225 MPs that there would be a day that you would not be able to come out after going to Parliament without voting for a motion to dissolve Parliament,” he said.

Lalkantha said that putting an end to the prevailing political culture, restoring political stability and finding solutions to the problems of people could not be done without a general election. “There is a need to get a new government. People now know who the thieves in MPs’ garb are. They will no longer fall for the tricks of those who robbed this country and put them in misery. If the government says it does not have money to conduct an election, then we promise to get public sector workers to be on election duty voluntarily. Many public sector organisations have expressed their willingness to do election duty free of charge.

“The present government will not last long. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, too, will have to go.

“The Galle Face strugglers should add to their list of demands an election to put an end to the 74-year-long rotten political culture. They should get ready to change the venue from the old Parliament premises to the new Parliament premises. The people’s struggle will come to an end there with winning an election. We have to get these MPs to dissolve this parliament, or there will be no future for the next generation of this country,” Lalkantha said. (SI)