Opposition party leaders issuing a joint statement today have assured responsible cooperation in Parliament to assist the government in facing the Covid-19 challenge effectively. Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran  taking to his twitter handle today said opposition party members will not draw any salary and will not defeat or thwart the government’s legitimate actions during this critical time. "The optimism that prevailed in the country until a few days ago that the spread of the virus could be managed is now residing. If further spreading of the pandemic is not decisively halted in the coming few weeks, the country will face the risk of the prevailing public health crisis being compounded by crisis situation in the social , political and economic spheres too, " the joint statement read. "It is our genuine belief that re- summoning the dissolved Parliament and through it securing the coorperation of political parties and the MPs represented in the dissolved Parliament would be greatly contribute to the resolving of a number of urgent governance issues that have emerged amidst the crisis. Getting appropriate and new legislation passed in order to meet the public health crisis and obtaining parliamentary sanction to the utilization of monies from the consolidated fund are some such important and urgent functions of Parliament, " the statement pointed out. The full statement is reproduced below;