Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday withheld a private member's motion, moved by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, seeking to prevent the President and Prime Minister from holding any Cabinet portfolios. His attempt ran into stiff resistance from the government parliamentarians.

The motion was on the order paper and was to be taken for debate yesterday.

It was the first private member's motion in the seventh Parliament.

The Speaker announced that he needed to further study the motion and whether it could be allowed to be presented. He said that he would inform the House of his decision in due course.

The Opposition repeatedly demanded that the motion be allowed but government MPs vehemently opposed it.

That caused an uproar in the House but speaker Rajapaksa restored order.

He said that he would consider the fact that the same topic had been debated in the House on July 20, 2007, but needed time to decide whether it could be allowed to proceed.

Chief Government Whip, Water Supply and Drainage Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena: "This motion cannot be moved. It attempts to debate the conduct of the President. According to the provisions of the Constitution and the standing orders of Parliament the conduct of the President cannot be debated in Parliament.

Therefore, I request the Speaker to reject this motion.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake: "The Standing Order number 78 says that the conduct of the President shall not be raised. However this motion does not aim to debate the conduct of the President. The motion only proposes that the President and the Prime Minister not hold ministerial portfolios. Therefore it should be allowed.

Leader of the House, Irrigation Minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva: "The Constitution has clearly outlined the powers of the President and the Prime Minister. Powers of appointing Ministers, holding Ministries and determining the number of Ministries under his charge are vested with the President by the Constitution. This motion is aimed at doing away with those powers granted by the Constitution. Amending a Constitution requires a different procedure. Therefore, this motion should not be allowed.

UPFA National List MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara: "Does this have a power to curtail the powers of President and the Prime Minister holding ministerial offices. This motion is out of order. It seeks to debate something it cannot do. Therefore this should not be allowed."

Anura Kumara Dissanayake: "This House has debated issues such as reducing the powers of the President. That, too, is included in the Constitution. So, it's wrong to say that we cannot debate the Constitution. There won't be any repealing of powers of the President just because we debate it here. The parties in Parliament could present their points of view on the issue at hand and that should be allowed.

Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekara: "MP Karunanayake tries to move a private member's motion. It is not a Bill. What he raised is an issue being discussed in the society today."

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe: We are not debating the conduct of President. What we propose here is to make the presidency an institution similar those in countries such as France, Finland and South Korea.

MP Joseph Michael Perera: "The motion has been included on the order paper. These items come in print on the order paper after the Speaker decides that they are in accordance with the Constitution. This item was agreed to be debated here. It was agreed at the party leader's meeting.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa: "I refer to the Hansard of July 06, 2007. This issue was debated in this House on that day. But there was no Opposition to this motion then. Therefore, it was allowed to be debated. But, today there is opposition from the government benches. I have to study and find whether it is consistent with the section 78 of Standing orders and the Constitution. Therefore we should move on to the next item on the order paper skipping this," he said.