Harsha withdraws nomination to COPE to make way for Charitha Herath
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has withdrawn the nomination of its MP Harsha de Silva to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to make way for former COPE chairman MP Charitha Herath who had expressed his disappointment at being excluded.
“MP Harsha De Silva is withdrawing his name from the list voluntarily. Thus, we propose the name of Charitha Herath to the Committee,” opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament on Tuesday (4).
MP de Silva heads the Committee on Public Finance (COPF).
Parliament’s selection committee had nominated 27 members each to COPE and to the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) on Monday (3), provoking the ire of the previous COPE chairman.
Herath, who broke away from the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuan (SLPP) and now sits with a group of independent MPs tweeted Monday that “people behind the economic crimes” wanted him out of their way.
Premadasa told Parliament there are certain people who try to prevent opposition members from chairing the special parliamentary committees, reiterating his party’s calls for the committee chairs to be given to opposition MPs, as promised by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena earlier.
“We asked to give the COPE and COPA committee chairmanships to the opposition, and we proposed Kabir Hashim and Eran Wickremaratne. The Speaker and the President agreed to that. But today we receive information that a different method is going to be used to select the chairperson,” Pemadasa noted.
“This promise was made to us when the Aragalaya protest was at its peak, and I ask you to keep the promise,” he urged.
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