No minister could be forced to answer: PM

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said yesterday that no Minister could be forced to answer any question in Parliament.

The Prime Minister made this point at the unveiling of the portrait of seven distinguished statesmen including C. W. W. Kannangara, A. E. Goonasinghe, Dr. S. A. Wickramsinghe, Dr. N. M. Perera, G. G. Ponnambalam, Philip Gunawardene and Dr. T. B. Jayah at the Parliamentary Complex yesterday.

Mr. Wickramanayake recalled that the late Dr. N. M. Perera once argued in the House that no one could force a Minister to answer a question. He said the point raised by Dr. Perera then was most appropriate today.

He also recalled that all these men shed their differences and came together to save the nation when there were threats of foreign invasion. “These persons are honoured today because they shed party differences for the sake of the country,” he added.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said these persons were the ones who had toiled to safeguard the supremacy of the legislature. He said these men were a group who made the history of Sri Lanka. “G. G. Ponnambalam is a person who worked towards independence and it is ironical that the circumstances have not allowed his grandson to participate in this function,” he said.