COLOMBO, May 18: The Sri Lankan parliament began its thirteenth on Tuesday morning amid confusion and tension following the crossover of a parliamentarian of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Hussain Baila, to the government.

The sitting commenced against the backdrop of the chaos that erupted yesterday within the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and in the government camps over a sex scandal involving former UNF minister and head of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Rauf Hakeem.

State television on Sunday ran a one-hour lament by Kumari Cooray, daughter of a former key politician in the UNF and mother of two, who said she had tried to commit suicide after Hakeem seduced her promising marriage.

On Monday, speaking on an independent channel she confessed she had been part of a conspiracy hatched by President Kumaratunga's Alliance ministers. "Everything I said was a lie.

They (ministers of the alliance) made me do it," she said. he blamed President Kumaratunga for masterminding the defamation of Mr Hakeem and of giving her money to do her part.