10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Amila Prasad

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Gampaha· 5 December 2024 ·Debate: Debate on Vote on Account for 2025 (continued)

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Amila Prasad criticized the Government for expanding welfare programmes such as “Aswesuma” and child-related assistance while failing to deliver tax relief expected by the middle class. He argued that, despite accusing Sajith Premadasa of welfare populism, the Government had adopted similar welfare measures using public funds, whereas his party leader had used party funds for such assistance.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Studying by heart is not an issue. Ask me anything; I will answer. In five years I will show you how much I have learned.

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, may I have two minutes? Never mind, I will conclude. The middle class rejected us, saying Sajith Premadasa is a welfare populist. Yet your first acts were large welfare outlays: “Aṣvasuma” expanded; more funds for children. But by dashing the hopes of the middle class who wanted tax relief, and after saying “we don’t need presidents who just give handouts,” you adopted those very welfare measures into your political project using public funds. Remember, our Leader used party funds for such assistance. I conclude. Thank you.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 5 December 2024 ·No. 1734081038099638 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Amila Prasad. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 December 2024. No. 1734081038099638. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12654