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With the recent break-up of the 37-member JVP parliamentary group, the third largest group in the sixth Parliament, the total number of MPs who had switched allegiance to the SLFP-led ruling coalition or decided to function as independent MPs had gone up to almost 50 .
Political sources said this was a record if compared with the number of crossovers in any previous parliament. The sources said the replacement of 30 MPs due to resignations, deaths, assassination and absence without leave for over three months, too, was a record.
A UNP MP said the face of the sixth parliament had been changed due to what he called mass crossovers. The crisis within JVP had helped the UNP to momentarily forget the SLFP inspired break-up of the party and ongoing efforts to win over more MPs, he said. The loss of 24 MPs to the government had reduced the UNP group in Parliament to 42, he said.
The UNP suffered another setback when the vacancy caused by the assassination of T. Maheswaran, MP, (Colombo District) in January had to be filled by SLMC candidate Mohammed Shafeek Rajabdeen who contested the Colombo District on the UNP ticket at the last general election. But under a recent pact with the SLMC under which Rauff Hakeem quit his Digamadulla seat to contest the first ever election to the Eastern Provincial Council, UNPer Abdul Majeed Naushad entered Parliament.
The resignation of Rauff Hakeem along with Basheer Segudawood (National List) and M. T. Hassen Ali (National List) in April this year to contest the May 10 election had reduced SLMC strength in Parliament to just two MPs representing Digamadulla and Colombo. Political sources said the SLMC would fill the two National List vacancies only after the election. Two of the MPs including Hakeem who quit their seats could return to Parliament through the National List, the sources said.
Political sources said the UNP loss was monumental as CWC, SLMC and UPF MPs who contested on the UNP ticket or entered Parliament through the UNP National List, too, had joined the government. "In fact, our predicament is worse than that of the JVP," another UNP MP said. The JVP contested the last general election on the UPFA ticket and even if the break-up would be permanent, essentially they would back the government, he said. Both factions would support the monthly extension of the Emergency Regulations, he said, asserting the bottom line would be the Opposition would be weaker. The deaths of Gampaha District MPs Anura Bandaranaike and Sripathy Sooriyarachchi, too, brought Rajapaksa loyalists, Reggie Ranatunga and Sarana Gunawardena to Parliament, political sources said.
