Herath accuses President of using SLPP as rubber stamp in Parliament to pass draconian laws

By Rathindra Kuruwita 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe would never have brought in the recent set of repressive legislation if his party had been in power, Freedom People’s Congress (FPC) MP Prof. Charitha Herath said in a television interview on Monday.

Wickremesinghe was using the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs to pass draconian laws which will be resented and resisted by the people, he said.

Prof. Herath said that the proposed act to establish a Broadcasting Regulatory Commission had been drafted by legal experts who have no understanding of the future of media.

“If the UNP had been in power, Wickremesinghe would not have brought in this act to establish a Broadcasting Regulatory Commission. He knows that the UNP’s reputation would be tarnished,” he said.

Prof. Herath said that the President believed that the SLPP MPs who support him would rubber stamp all the bills he introduces.

“A similar Bill was presented a few decades ago and it was then UNP Secretary Gamini Atukorale himself who went to court against it,” he said, adding that they would move the Supreme Court against the Bill if it was presented to Parliament.