We need a strong parliament to discard the 19th amendment : President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

COLOMBO (News 1st) - President Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with Heads of Local Government Institutions today (December 29) at his official residence. Addressing the meeting the President said, it is the responsibility of the representatives of the people to act in a way that would fulfil the expectations of the people. The President pointed out that the active state of the Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas will be a necessity in this endeavour. President noted that once Mahinda Rajapaksa was the most popular politician in the country and if they do not understand why the people rejected them and fail to realize the reasons behind it, they will again suffer the same fate. He added that they should focus on that. The President spoke about the 19th Amendment to the Constitution as well. "All of you know that there is a massive crisis in governing the state because of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution done by the previous regime. We have to remove this now. For that, we are in need of a strong Parliament" he added. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera responded to the comments made by the Tamil National Alliance about the 19th Amendment to the Constitution today. M. A. Sumanthiran, TNA MP noted that they have said that they are going to remove the 19th amendment to the constitution which was an amendment that was made democratically. He added that this was against democracy and is a shock to all those who value democracy. He shared that they are against dictatorial rule. Mahinda Amraweera, Minister of Transport Service Management, Power & Energy: "Neither the President nor we hope to remove any democratic elements from the 19th amendment to the constitution. We are only hoping to resolve the problematic areas of the 19th amendment to the constitution. We will address the shortcomings in a democratic manner and will take the country forward."