2ND LEAD (CORRECTION)

Sri Lanka's 2009 budget passed

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 10:48 GMT]
The 2009 budget of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was adopted in the parliament Monday afternoon with a majority of 42 votes. 126 parliamentarian voted for the budget and 84 against. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa tabled the budget on November 6 in parliament in the capacity of Finance Minister.

Members of the ruling UPFA, Jathika Hela Urumaya, dissident members of the United National Party (UNP), National Freedom Front, dissident group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) led by Minister Arumugan Thondaman and Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) led Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, voted for the budget.

Members of the main opposition UNP, JVP and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) voted against it.

Members of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) abstained.

DPF is led by Mano Ganeshan. He had changed the name of the Western Peoples Front into DPF recently.

Chronology: