By Dilrukshi Handunnetti Our Lobby Correspondent

The House was literally on fire until the vote on the first reading of the budget was taken on Monday (19) with the opposition hopeful of defeating it while the government waited with bated breath fearing decamping just minutes before the crucial vote was taken.

The JVP certainly managed to give the entire House palpitations and days of anxiety by skillfully concealing the party decision to vote against the budget. It was to be a touch and go situation for both sides of the divide.

There was little or no doubt that the Marxists had no option but to vote against the third Rajapakse budget, yet there was much speculation given the party’s prior tendency to prop up the UPFA coalition at crisis time.

Everyone waited with bated breath to know how the Marxists would vote and there was a breathless hush when JVP legislator Ajith Kumara’s name was read out by the Secretary General to record his vote, to hear a clear "Nay."

The fact that the government within hours had the JVP also labelled traitors for opting to vote against the budget and thus equating their decision to being pro-LTTE (as the UNP and the TNA both opposed the Appropriation Bill) is another matter. There is no denying that political prudence overtook all other reasons when the Marxists decided to vote against, as the cost of living sky rockets and inflation is already at an all time high of 22%.

A hint of what was to come came earlier on when JVP frontliner Anura Kumara Dissanayake tore the government to smithereens about its economic policy and making war the excuse for its multitude of sins.

Giving a detailed account of when and why the JVP supported the UPFA, why alliances were created albeit reluctantly and what policy directions the JVP wished to give with the hope of redirecting the government’s cause was exhaustively explained to the House by Dissanayake.

In a spell binding delivery, he spoke of founder Rohana Wijeweera and Marxist ideals, calling upon all patriots to formulate a new economic order that could take Sri Lanka forward.

"Only the JVP will have the discipline to defend a decision the way we do today. Nobody will know until we vote, how we would vote. What other party would have such discipline? As for the greens and the blues, it is more to do with the money on offer to cross over. If there is less money, they may decide to stay on. We are not a political party like that," he said.

The votes on the president, prime minister, parliament and 19 other heads were taken up on Tuesday on a quieter note. The expected fire was not generated, though occasional sparks did fly.

Proposing the traditional cut of Rs. 10 on the votes, UNP’s Lakshman Kiriella ripped apart the presented budget estimates as being ‘irregular and illegal’ due to the failure to specify the exact allocations for 37 institutions coming under the President’s purview.

Kiriella who opened the committee stage debate on the votes on 22 heads claimed there was a serious lapse on the part of the Department of the Budget in including the specific estimates for certain subjects.

"This is irregular and illegal. Never has this happened before where separate heads have not been differentiated but stealthily combined under one head," he said. The MP demanded to know exactly how the allocation for the office of the President split and what areas were thus covered.

"Some 37 institutions come under the President. We want to know exactly how the allocations have been made for them. One overall estimate won’t do," he thundered.

While Kiriella had his own criticisms on how the money was allocated, there was TNA Group Leader, R. Sampanthan who identified the budget as a war budget spending one ninehundreth of the allocations on the northeastern population.

Sampanthan critiqued that the government has marginalised the northeastern population and overlooked their concerns through the poor financial allocations for the war ravaged region. "That is the attitude for all to know" he scoffed.

He said that the only inference to be drawn from the manner in which allocations were done was that while the government was lavish with regard to defence expenditure, the population affected by the military offensives were left to deal with crumbs of the budget pie.

He said the only minister representing the northeast, Douglas Devananda has received the virtual crumbs off the said budget pie that amounted to one ninehundreth (1/900) of the entire allocations.

Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda receives Rs. 616,223,000 as recurrent and Rs. 218,393,000 as capital expenditure. "His ministry gets only Rs. 834 million which is one ninehundreth of the total allocations under various heads.

The northeast has 23 members and Devananda is the only cabinet member representing the northeast," he said.

The TNA Leader alleged that the sheer inconsideration was manifest in the allocation, for to a government suffering from a war mentality, it failed to see the suffering of a population caught in the crossfire.

"These are areas terribly devastated. People have lost their livelihoods. Their homes have been destroyed. There was no possibility of fishing, crop cultivation or livestock management. To a community driven to despair, the government was only throwing crumbs. It failed to show any rehabilitation or disaster assistance to people languishing in temporary shelters," he alleged. The last remark he made before sitting down was a pained one — "You do not care. You have no wish to even attempt addressing our issues."

Making a prophecy was UNP legislator Dayasiri Jayasekera. He was certain that on December 14 when the third and final reading of the budget takes place, the shaky government would fall — at long last.

"This lame duck has no survival. Every little decision is weighing on the administration to keep its members, more and more perks have to be offered.

Openly laughing at the fireworks that were readied to be lit if the vote went in favour of the government, Jayasekera said that the government had taken a gamble and that would be lost on December 14.

"This parliament is a distortion of the people’s mandate. There are 49 UNP parliamentarians serving the government. They were voted into power by the UNP not to run away with their mandate for money and perks. The balance of power in parliament has been arbitrarily altered by the Executive President for his own personal gain. Therefore we will agitate and do our utmost to bring this parliament to an end so that people can throw away the political discards and elect new representatives," he charged.

The MP scoffed that the SLFP Youth League had pasted posters even before the vote was taken on Monday, praising the JVP for supporting a patriotic government only to be sadly disappointed. "That was a huge miscalculation. Minister Duminda Dissanayake has worked hard to put up posters which were wrong in content for the JVP let the government have it this time. In turn, now the government is labeling the JVP as traitors hand in hand with the LTTE. The government’s poster campaign has cost some Rs. 24 million which in turn the poor tax payer will have to pay," he added.

A more rational Minister Dilan Perera was seen replying to the many criticisms raised against the government. True to style, he agreed that the entire parliament should rightfully have some issues with the government and the budget itself.

Perera minced no words as he critiqued the entire parliament first — for treating the second reading of the budget as a life and death matter and going into an ugly head count.

"It was all about how much of money was riding on whom last Monday. Isn’t there any shame? Should we not try to work out a common programme that benefits this country than dabble in petty politics as if this is the very last budget we would ever pass and the end of our politics," he demanded to know.

Perera said he agreed with some of the criticisms leveled against the budget by the opposition and said there was no dispute as to whether one is a rogue or a murderer simply because he switched sides. "Coming over here or going over there would not change such facts. I have been labelled a terrorist for a long time for my stance on the ethnic question. If advocating federalism makes me a terrorist, let it be, for I prefer to be that than a lion who advocates ethnic bloodshed," he said.

The Minister said that he had many an ideological difference with the JVP that has branded him for long as a terrorist but paid tribute to those who worked alongside him on COPE. "This terrorist talk must end. The moment someone holds a non traditional or opposite view, they should not be labelled as being pro- LTTE or against nationalist forces. It was me before and today it is the JVP," he said.

Perera said that at a time that the COPE report was being criticised by certain sections, it was his firm belief that the report contents were credible and called for proper follow up action on the report findings.

Speaking about crossers over, he said that the SLFP voters mandated him and he had no right to violate a sacred trust reposed in him as an elected MP. "If I have to show dissent, I should do that within my party and not by crossing over to join hands with others. I have no mandate to join Ranil Wickremesinghe the way Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi did. That’s why I showed my protest within the SLFP ranks. If I leave, I leave politics but I won’t join hands with the UNP," he said.

Turning the guns on his own government, he said that a murderer was a murderer and a rapist was a rapist whatever party he chose to support. "They never change. Only politics will begin to smell more dirty," he said.

Perera also said that parliamentarians of all hues were behaving as if the budget was some trade fair with horse-trading rampant. Further, it was as if this was to be the final parliamentary vote. "Won’t we have more budgets and more elections? Does the world come to an end with this? Won’t we be in politics hereafter?" he queried.

Perera next called upon all political parties to shed differences and to formulate a common plan that could benefit the people instead of counting heads inside the House as if MPs were on offer for sale.

And so the stage is now set for the next spectacle that will take place on December 14. Meanwhile horse-trading will continue. As Wimal Weerawansa said, perhaps it is the right time to put up a board indicating the daily monetary value of a MP.

From the very outset, the second reading of the budget showed all signs of mini warfare. While horse-trading preceded other activities, there was abduction, MPs being accused of money laundering, some MPs having their security withdrawn and houses being broken into.

On Monday morning, TNA Group Leader R. Sampanthan raised a matter of privilege that Batticaloa District Parliamentarian T. Kanagasabey’s son-in- law, one Shashikaran was abducted on the 18th with a warning that his life would depend on how his father-in-law opts to vote during the crucial vote the next day.

Sampanthan also drew the attention of the House to the fact that K. Thangeshwari and T. Ariyanethran, both Batticaloa District MPs had their security suddenly withdrawn on the 18th.

Likewise, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe also rose to speak on behalf of three of his MPs who were questioned by the CID, preventing them from attending parliament thereby breaching their parliamentary privileges.

The members were Ravi Karunanayake, Vajira Abeywardene and Earl Gunasekera. He added that MP Sagala Ratnayake’s estate house was also broken into by an armed group on the 18th.

As Heritage Minister Anura Bandaranaike walked out of the House after casting his vote in favour of the budget under protest, the Minister’s parting shot that he supported the budget only because of his parents who founded the party did not go down well with the government.

Yet while others kept mum, a man who had the fortune to become a legislator thanks to Bandaranaike’s much respected parents, Mervyn Silva was seen charging behind the Minister muttering to himself. The angry man was prevented from proceeding any further by Minister Susil Premajayanth who valued sanity and decorum in the House.

Many were interested in finding out as to how government MP Arjuna Ranatunga would cast his vote. Ranatunga had announced his decision to vote against the budget long before the debate began.

It is well known that the MP was ready to sit in the opposition, had the blessings of his mother and his speech was prepared when the President and his own father prevailed upon him.

So Ranatunga was seen putting family before principles, and voting in favour. Perhaps to make sure that he does, sitting in the distinguished gallery was papa, Governor Reggie Ranatunga.

With both the government and the opposition hell bent on attracting members to their respective sides before the November 19 vote was taken, parliament was very much a trade fair with a certain monetary value adduced to each legislator.