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TNA support is conditional on meeting certain demands – MA Sumanthiran

Speaking to the Hindu, Tamil National Alliance MP, MA Sumanthiran, maintained that support for an interim all-party government would be conditional on meeting certain demands.

“We have been consulted and the SJB has invited us. We have asked them to go ahead with a new government if they have the numbers. However, if they need our support, we said will then talk about the conditions on which we might be able to support them,” Sumanthiran stated.

His statement follows the events of Saturday in which mass protests saw the storming of the President’s house and the burning of the Prime Minister’s private residence. Responding to the demonstrators the Prime Minister announced that he will step down and the Speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament stated that the President will resign. There has been no word directly from the President.

The Hindu notes that “almost all opposition parties are apprehensive, knowing that a possible stint in the next government may impact their chances of winning back the trust of angry, disenchanted voters in the next elections that most of them want to be held in about six months”.

Speaking with Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) legislator, Harsha de Silva, the paper further notes suggestions that Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and long-time Rajapaksa loyalist Dullas Alahapperuma, may take on the post of President and Prime Minister. 

The Speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament is scheduled to convene another party leaders’ meeting on Monday, political sources said.

Read more from the Hindu

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