President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday made an interesting remark when he said the decision to hold a Parliamentary debate over the reports of the Bond Commission and the PRECIFAC was a gimmick. 

The President, addressing a group of journalists at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday, had said the the debate was set on February 06 after he posed a challenge. 

Sirisena, posing the challenge last week, said had the debate on two committee reports been scheduled before the LG polls, the high profile politicians on both sides would have been exposed. Responding to the challenge, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing an election rally in Badulla, said the debate on the two commission reports would be taken before the election and he had requested the Speaker to convene Parliament.

However, the President's remark has been ridiculed by some UNP MPs who met at the 'Sirikotha' party headquarters, this morning.

"It is not clear whether the President is in his senses," one MP said, analyzing the development. 

"First, he poses a challenge to hold the debate before the election. Then, when the challenge is accepted and the debate is scheduled before the election, he says it's a gimmick," he  added. 

"It appears to be a pattern. First he said he wouldn't leave office until the rogues of the previous government were sent to hell. The next day, he invited all of them to his house to form a UPFA government. Then, he said this government would continue until 2020," another UNP Parliamentarian quipped.