20th amendment is detrimental : Chandrika

COLOMBO (News1st): Former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on Saturday said that the 20th constitutional amendment is detrimental to the country. She made these remarks during an event held to mark the 61st death anniversary of the late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike at the Bandaranaike mausoleum in Horagolla. "The 20th amendment is detrimental. It will destroy democracy," Kumaratunge told reporters following the event. State minister Dayasiri Jaysekara, who attended the event, said the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will put forward its views on the draft 20th amendment to the committee that is studying it. "We hope to put forward our opinion to the committee that has been appointed by the Prime Minister. However, we cannot act in a manner that is contrary to the people's mandate," he noted. Jayasekara added that his party had decided to support the present government as it has been founded on nationalist policies. Meanwhile, the former president criticized the members of the SLFP and the party leadership that had been founded by her father, for destroying the party. "The leader has destroyed the party to bits," Kumaratunga lamented. She added that the party does not have members who are free of corruption in order to uplift the party in line with the vision of the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.