No intention of changing the opposition leader - Speaker

No intention of changing the opposition leader - Speaker

There had been speculations that the present opposition leader in parliament Nimal Siripala de

Silva should be replaced as the opposition leader as the president is also from the same party SLFP and as many ministers in the government are also SLFP members. In this contest even over 50 present members of the opposition had sent a request with their signatures to the Speaker of the Parliament to nominate Member of Parliament Dinesh Gunawardena the leader of the MEP as the leader of the opposition. In this contest many were anxiously waiting in anticipation when a decision was made in this regard by the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa in Parliament when the House sits today afternoon the 07th.

Although many were in anticipation for a change today, the Speaker had announced that although many may have expected him to announce a decision today the decision conveyed by him was totally different. What he had said was he has no intention of changing the opposition leader and Nimal Siripala de Silva would continue to be the leader of the opposition. However he had said that he would give thought and study this matter deeply to find out whether a change is really necessary.