It was one of the stormiest sessions where the protagonists roared against each other with anger and candour. With two more elections lost, this time for Provincial Councils in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa, a perceived Government victory in the ongoing separatist war projected as imminent, what does the country's oldest political party in Opposition do? Can it go beyond its own internal crisis for a change in leadership, or would that imbroglio serve as the beginning of the end for the United National Party (UNP)?
These issues and many others reverberated during a closed-door meeting of the UNP's Political Affairs Committee at its headquarters at SiriKotha in Kotte on Wednesday. In the chair was the party's leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who remains at the eye of a storm over his leadership.
Even if any member did not raise the issue of leadership pointedly, it came somewhat incidentally. That was when John Ameratunga made a plea to forget all what has happened and agree to move forward. Johnston Fernando shot back, saying the issue of leadership and party reforms had not been resolved. He asked how the party could decide to move forward leaving behind contentious issues. That saw heated exchanges between the duo. Ameratunga spoke after statements had been made by party Chairman Rukman Senanayake and Joseph Michael Perera.
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Lakshman Seneviratne, hailing from Mahiyangana, a staunch ally of Jonston Fernando, was to join in. He was critical of the UNP decision to allow SLFP-M wing leader, Mangala Samaraweera support the party on the understanding that he would be made Deputy Prime Minister in a future UNP-led Government. He charged that Samaraweera had not taken part in any election campaign to support UNP candidates. Samaraweera associates say his absence was on legal advice since he is still facing a disciplinary inquiry from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, but that, a large section of the UNP say, is just an excuse.
UNP leader Wickremesinghe was equally defiant. He hit back at his critics and urged that they not fall into a trap weaved by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He said there were no allegations they could make personally against him. Hence, they were trying to divide and destroy the party by engineering a so-called leadership crisis. He warned his protagonists not to fall prey to those machinations. If, as claimed, there were a large number of members seeking his ouster, Wickremesinghe wanted to know who they were.
Some of the speakers highlighted the contradictory positions senior party members were taking on important issues. A clear example, one of them pointed out, followed the outcome of the two provincial council elections in August. Whilst some senior members of the party were alleging irregularities in the conduct of the polls, one senior member had acknowledged the outcome by saying the UNP had in fact increased their vote base. If indeed there was an increase as claimed, one of the speaker's pointed out, that the remarks also implied that the poll was both free and fair. However, the majority view in the UNP was that the polls were flawed with widespread intimidation, thuggery and other irregularities.
The party appointed an eleven-member committee to identify the important issues in the country and to formulate the party's official position on them. Headed by Lakshman Kiriella, it comprised Imtiyaz Bakeer Markar (who has now returned to the fold after prematurely retiring from politics), Dayantha Karunatilleke, Ravi Karunanayake, Sarathchandra Rajakaruna, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Range Bandara, S. Velayuthan, Sajith Premadasa, Janaka Perera and Ranjan Ramanayake. The Committee is to complete its findings by next week when the Working Committee meets before the first session of Parliament for September.
Party members are to be thereafter told to ensure they follow a uniform approach when they comment on important national issues on behalf of the party. The Political Affairs Committee had also empowered Wickremesinghe to speak to like minded political parties to form a common front against the Government with the UNP. SLFP (M) leader Mangala Samaraweera is also independently initiating a similar move.
The latter's move, based largely on important national issues, SLFP (M) sources say, is expected to receive the blessings of even former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumararatunga. She is now on a visit to London and will travel thereafter to New York. There, she is to attend a board meeting of the Bill Clinton Foundation. She is also to fly to a resort city in another country to attend the wedding of a member of a wealthy Sindhi family in Colombo. On a Srilankan Airlines flight to London seated in the Business Class on the same row as Kumaratunga were two Ministers - A.H.M. Fowzie and Dilan Perera. She walked up to them for a brief but brash conversation - the main villain of the peace - President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
At least temporarily, the crisis for Wickremesinghe over the UNP leadership appears to have simmered down. However, a section backed by the party rebels, insiders say, are busy with a signature campaign urging him to quit.
Such a campaign, they say, is a response to Wickremesinghe's query at the Political Affairs Committee to identify those who want him replaced. They contend that some stalwarts are privately backing the move though publicly they are taking a supportive stance towards the leader.
It is not only the Opposition UNP that is embroiled in controversies. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) also featured in a thoroughly embarrassing episode. That compelled the party to forego one more seat in Parliament. Anuruddha Polgampola, one of the Parliamentarians from the Kegalle district, had travelled to Tokyo last month accompanied by a youth whom he officially identified as his personal assistant. In the first instance, his party was unaware Polgampola was visiting Japan. Secondly, he had no such personal assistant.
The Sunday Times learnt that a rival group had tipped off the Japanese authorities that the JVP parliamentarian was arriving in Japan using his official privileges purely to smuggle a youth. The JVP is known to have a strong base of supporters working in Japan, from where it collects a lot of its party funds. The so-called 'personal assistant' was to be left behind in Japan. It was alleged that the parliamentarian had obtained a financial consideration from the youth to smuggle him in to Japan. Upon arrival, the Immigration authorities in Tokyo had questioned the parliamentarian and the youth separately. They had taken up contradictory positions and it became clear to Tokyo authorities that the youth had arrived to seek employment. He was immediately deported to Sri Lanka.
The JVP parliamentarian, who was allowed entry, had checked in for two days. Reports said efforts by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo to contact the JVP MP to ascertain what had happened at the airport had not been successful. This was soon after news of the incident spread. From Japan, Polgampola had travelled to Hong Kong and later returned to Colombo. The publicity over the issue had prompted the JVP's Central Committee to conduct a full inquiry. Polgampola had admitted he had violated party discipline by attempting to smuggle a youth to Japan. He was called upon to tender his resignation as an MP.
JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe said later, "our inquiry showed that he (Polgampola) had not used any public funds. He had used his own money. However, we found that his conduct was completely incompatible with our party ideals or discipline. We urged him to resign immediately."
Amerasinghe added it was true that Polgampola had abused his privileges as a JVP parliamentarian. "We know we will have to forego a seat in the House (his seat will now be filled by an SLFP member - the JVP and SLFP contested under the UPFA symbol in the 2004 elections). But we cannot in any way condone his conduct. This is a serious matter. In taking disciplinary action, we have demonstrated that we do not tolerate such behaviour."
He said Polgampola would still remain a member of the JVP. "We have made it clear he has to reform himself. He has agreed to do so," the JVP leader said.
JVP spokesman Vijitha Herath added, "He has not done any criminal offence. Since he has done something unethical, we told him to resign."
Now, CID detectives have arrived on the scene and taken over investigations into the matter. With no love lost between the JVP and the Rajapaksa administration, there is no doubt that the case will be of some political significance for both in the days ahead.
Erstwhile JVP parliamentary group leader and now head of breakaway National Freedom Front (NFF), Wimal Weerawansa remained officially silent on the Polgampola saga. They were otherwise busy building their international contacts.
The first foreign head of mission in Sri Lanka to visit their office in Kotte was the British High Commissioner Peter Hayes. In the course of his talks with Weerawansa, Hayes asked what should be done when the ongoing separatist war was over. The question appeared pertinent since Britain is one of many countries that officially held the view there was no military solution to the ethnic conflict. Here was the UK envoy, now asking what of a post-military solution scenario.
Weerawansa was to respond guardedly. He said that would be the most difficult task when the war is over. He said there was a need for political, economic and social programmes to ensure reconciliation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities. Even before the war, Weerawansa said, the dialogue between the two communities had not been very good. Hence, the first priority after the war ended would be this task. He said even in South Africa, soon after apartheid was dismantled, it had been a difficult process to bring about reconciliation between the communities. Hayes asked why the NFF was not in the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC), only to be told that they had not yet been invited. A day earlier, Weerawansa and an NFF delegation had called on Chinese Ambassador Ye Dabo at his Embassy office in Bauddhaloka Mawatha.
It seems that the diplomatic community, at least has given them some accreditation - the Chinese in particular, because the mainstream JVP is in an open alliance with the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. Their relations with the Rajapaksa administration being what it is, the fact that the Chinese envoy granted Weerawansa's fledgling party an official interview shows that the NFF has the credentials for diplomatic acceptance in Colombo.
The focus, however, remains with the political developments within the UNP, and the under-currents in the party and its Leader. Throwing a spanner in the works has been a comment by ruling SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena who has said that twelve (12) UNP MPs are due to crossover to the Government benches. The guessing game is going on within the party as to who they are, while others are dismissing the claim as a typical political ploy to split the UNP further.
Hardline UNP members say that replacing Wickremesinghe only opens the door for a power-struggle within the party, and this would be the end of the party on the eve of a General Election, the scheduled date of which is April 2010. What they say is that the party second-stringers must not be fighting for posts in the party, but to form the next Government and for posts in a future Government. |
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