Sri Lanka's parliamentary proceedings were disrupted Tuesday for over 30 minutes when opposition legislators demanded explanation from the speaker on the seating arrangements of ministers.

Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara summoned the sessions as the main opposition United National Party (UNP) began questioning the seating arrangements.

Lakshman Kiriella, a UNP legislator said the seating had not been done properly as some of the senior politicians in the ruling party had been given back row seats while several defectors from his party who are now ministers been given front seats.

Some 18 UNP members joined the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse last month as ministers defying a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Rajapakse.

Wickremesinghe making a special speech when the parliamentary proceedings began in the morning said "the UNP finds it impossible to work with the government in finding a solution to the issues referred to in the MoU as the government has broken the MoU." Wickremesinghe told parliament when he signed the MoU with Rajapakse one of the foremost things was the co-operation in settling the ethnic problem the island had faced and Rajapakse's action in taking in defectors from the UNP had violated the agreement between the two leaders.

The UNP defectors and the government both maintain that defections should not adversely affect the MoU but would further strengthen it.

Source: Xinhua