Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam told Sri Lanka’s parliament that Sinhala lawmaker Rohitha Abeygunawardena attempted to assault him, whilst they were in the Prime Minister’s office earlier today.
“This member threatened me and he was about to physically assault me and he was stopped by State Minister Ashoka Priyantha,” Rasamanickam told parliament, stating MP Jagath Priayankara was a witness to these events.
“I have been threatened, my life is under threat,” he continued.
“He said that he would assault me near the lift and the reason he gave was I walked into the prime minister’s office of this country. He said ‘how dare you walk into our prime minister’s office?’… I went to see him about an issue pertaining to Batticaloa. Batticaloa is also a part of this country. I am a Tamil and he suggested that I shouldn't walk in there.”
“Tell us! Tell us to our face that ‘you are not a part of this country, you are Tamil, this country and this prime minister is only for the Sinhala people’,” Rasamanickam continued.
“Tell us then, then we will take action.”
Rasamanickam says this is not the first time that he has been threatened by SLPP members. “The Parliament privileges committee has failed to investigate and take action in previous instances and it has now reached to the point of assault.”
MP Rohitha Abeygunardena tried to assault me in parliament a short while ago. This happened in the Prime ministers office within the parliament complex. I have raised a privilege issue and am concerned for my safety as he has threatened to assault me outside parliament as well. pic.twitter.com/E9eESr3K5u
— Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam (@ShanakiyanR) March 7, 2024
Before this incident, when Rasamanickam tried to questioned the logic behind this motion to permit 450cc -1300cc motorbikes to be registered when most youth in the country can’t even afford a bicycle, Abeygunawardena alleged that the Tamil lawmaker was a member of the LTTE. Rohitha told the house that Rasamanickam was speaking on behalf of the LTTE and was attempting to revive them.
I questioned the logic behind this motion to permit 450-cc -1300cc motorbikes to be registered when most youth in the country can’t even afford a bicycle. As always I was called a terrorist for questioning this by the min who was part of the cabal that bankrupted this country https://t.co/oOnqkUXJ21 pic.twitter.com/CXMW5pgntK
— Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam (@ShanakiyanR) March 5, 2024
The incident comes on the same day that Abeygunawardena was elected as the new Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) with a majority of votes.
Abeygunawardena is a staunch loyalist of Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He hails from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and was reportedly involved in the assault on protestors during the Aragalaya demonstrations on May 9, 2023.
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