Rishad Retort Back…………

On Thursday,11 th Charles Nirmalanathan, TNA Member of Parliament, Vanni district made wild allegations against the Minister of Trade and commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen in parliament. Rishad was not in parliament, when allegations were made.

When Rishad learned about this, he complained to the Speaker yesterday (12 th) with facts and figures. He said that Vanni MP Charles has made a speech in Parliament on 11 th violating my parliamentary privileges. He has violated several subsections under Section 84 of the parliamentary standing orders and brought disrepute to me in this house and among the public, he said. Charles continues to level wild allegations against me in an organized manner. His onslaught is not only aimed at me but on my party hard working people. He and his accomplices cannot tolerate the birth and rapid growth of my party.

Rishad calorically stated that this is a clear violation of democratic norms. Charles in his speech in parliament made wild allegation that I went on claiming that I was the son of Mahinda Rajapakshe during his regime. I wish to inform Charles and this house that my father’s name is Abdul Rahuman Bathiudeen. This house must understand the seriousness of his statement, he said. Further, Charles by stating that I threw stone stones at court complex, he tried to mislead this house and the people. There is no case filed in this connection in any court in Srilanka. I wish to bring to the notice of this house that these are utter lies uttered by Charles Nirmalanathan.

Charles further alleged that I was involved in large frauds and complaints had been lodged with the FCID. Whilst none of the allegations made by Charles had been either investigated or proved, Charles had violated Parliamentary traditions in levelling baseless charges against me, Rishad said.

Finally Rishad addressed the Speaker and prey for the following reliefs:

1. Firstly to delete from Hansard baseless allegations made by Charles.

a) On 23 rd March 2016 at page 756, where he mentioned Rishad’s name.Charls violated his parliamentary privileges by stating that Rishad had employed a defeated candidate of his party in his Ministry.

b) On 7 th April 2016, Thursday, he made wild baseless allegations, which were recorded in Hansard.

2. Secondly, Rishad requested the speaker to instruct Charls to apologize to him in Parliament, if not take appropriate action against him.

3. Thirdly, he requested the Speaker to require the press and electronic Medias, which gave wide publicity to Charls onslaught to withdraw relevant news articles and give the same publicity to my denial, Richard concluded.