Plan to strip CBK's civic rights in motion

Moves are afoot to strip former President Chandrika Kumaratunga of her civic rights, The Sunday Leader learns.

It is learnt that the decision to remove her civic rights was taken following various statements made by her against the government placing it in difficulty.

Provincial Council Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon had earlier proposed to the Central Committee of the SLFP to sack Kumaratunga from the party following an address she made at the inaugural convention of the SLFP (M).

However the proposal was shelved following President Mahinda Rajapakse's  revealation he had set in motion a plan to get the former President stripped of her  civic rights .

Informed sources said Minister Tennekoon had told several confidants he decided not to move his proposal at the central committee for Kumaratunga's ouster from the party following an assurance given by the President that a bigger plan was in operation on stripping the former President's civic rights.

According to party inside sources, the decision to knock Kumaratunga out of the political arena for seven years is to ensure that in the unlikely event of President Rajapakse being incapacitated to function in office in terms of the constitution, she will not be able to take control of the party through Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake who is a loyalist of the Former President.

The civic rights of a citizen can be stripped through a vote in parliament following a motion or being fined and sentenced by a court.