The JVP yesterday demanded that the Government reveal its stance on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, at a press conference in Colombo.

The party insisted it wanted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reveal the Government’s stand since several key ministers were issuing contradictory statements on the issue.

Commenting on the 13th Amendment which deals with the devolution of power, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that coalition partners in the Government who cannot secure a single seat on their own were calling for the implementation of the 13th Amendment. He referred to All Party Representative Committee Chairman Professor Tissa Vitharana, who is from the LSSP and Constitutional Affairs Minister, D. E. W. Gunasekera, a Communist who were fully supportive of the 13th Amendment.

Referring to Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene’s query as to what was wrong in adopting a resolution that was passed in Parliament with a two-thirds majority, Tilvin Silva recalled that it was passed during the tenure of late President J. R. Jayewardene who was armed with the resignation letters of all his MPs. "Only Minister Gamini Jayasuriya opposed the move and walked out of Parliament," Silva said.

Referring to Government spokesman Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa’s recent statement that the Government had not changed its stance on the 13th

Amendment, Silva said "Let us know the Government’s stand on it. Have they accepted it or not? Though this Government is led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, remember the present Government was elected in 2004. There was no provision in that election manifesto of 2004 to accept the 13th Amendment."

The JVP General Secretary said that there was no provision in the Mahinda Chinthanaya of the 2005 Presidential elections about the 13th Amendment, that it refused devolution of power and promised a unitary state.