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UNP gets tough with dissidents
The United National Party (UNP) will appoint fresh organisers to the posts left vacant by last week’s sacking of Provincial Councillors (PC) Maithree Gunaratne and Shiral Lakthilaka, said the Party’s Assistant Leader Parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera. But Mr. Gunaratne and Mr. Lakthilaka, along with eight other Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) members, will challenge their expulsions in court, in a bid to retain their membership and their elected positions in PCs and Local Government bodies.
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday he had not received notice from the UNP of the removal of these members. They all risk losing their elected seats within a month of the Elections Commissioner being informed, if they do not file legal action against the expulsion.
“We will definitely challenge this move,” said Mr. Lakthilaka, who is a member of the Western PC. “We are not making a living out of our PC jobs, but, by filing legal action, we can at least tell our side of the story.”
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake announced on Tuesday that the Working Committee (WC) had expelled 10 members. Six of them were found guilty of having instigated and participated in an attack on ‘Sirikotha’, the UNP headquarters at Kotte, in December 2011.
Maithree Gunaratne (right) and Shiral Lakthilaka addressing the media. Pic by Mangala Weerasekera
They are Ambalangoda PS Member Damith Kushantha, Mawathagama PS Member Ajith Senerath Kumara, Panduwasnuwara PS Member Mano Kumara Edirisinghe, Tangalle PS Member Dharshana Pradeep, Udubaddewa PS Member Sanjeewa Prasanna, Western PC Members Shiral Lakthilaka and Southern PC Member Maithree Gunaratne.
Four other members were sacked for attending a rally held by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in October 2012, in defiance of Party orders. They are Anamaduwa PS Members Anushka Priyashantha and Asela Premalal, Puttalam PS Member Wimal Ekanayake and Kobeiganey PS Member Vijitha Premalal. The disciplinary inquiries against Parliamentarians Palitha Range Bandara and Asoka Abeysinghe are continuing.
Several others were given strong warnings over both incidents and allowed to retain their membership on a “probationary basis”, Mr. Attanayake said. One was exonerated, while some inquiries have still not been concluded.
Several objections were lodged against the inquiry process by those facing disciplinary action. For instance, they protested that those investigating their actions were henchmen of Mr Wickremesinghe and therefore, biased against them. (All penalised members are staunch critics of the UNP leader).
Where charges of attacking the Party headquarters were concerned, there were parallel criminal cases against the suspects in the Nugegoda Magistrate Court. “Under the principles of natural law, the normal practice was to lay the inquiry by until the main cases are over,” Mr. Lakthilaka explained. “This was not done.”
They also maintained that, if the charge sheets issued against them were based on a preliminary report (produced, in this instance, by a committee headed by Srinath Perera), it was their right to know who had given evidence before the committee that compiled that report. “They didn’t afford us that chance,” Mr. Lakthilaka said.
“Nobody can accuse us of having taken these actions unilaterally, without disciplinary inquiry or without fair trial,” Mr. Attanayake countered at a press conference. “If that were so, how is it that all but seven of the 18 members accused of the first charge (attack on Party headquarters) were let off? It is because they were given that opportunity. If that were so, how is that all but four of the 14 accused of the second charge (participation at Fonseka’s rally) were let off? It’s because they were given that opportunity.”
“It is the group that didn’t take those opportunities and who continued to harm the Party, that we decided to expel,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Lakthilaka and Mr. Gunaratne said they were ready for a fight. “The day that you are sent to the dustbin of politics is not far off,” the former said, referring to UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Party insiders said there had been fireworks at the WC meeting when Mr. Attanayake announced the decisions taken regarding these members. Sajith Premadasa, WC member, had repeatedly suggested to the leadership that the expelled members also be given an opportunity to remain on a probationary basis.
While civility had been maintained for the most part, Mr. Premadasa had lost his temper when Mr. Attanayake and Mr. Ajith P. Perera had claimed that he was trying to get media publicity through his interventions. A heated exchange had ensued, ending only when Mr. Perera complied with the Party leader’s orders that he returns to his seat. Mr. Premadasa then also followed suit.
Meanwile, Ranjan Ramanayake asserted that UNP members who had opposed Mr. Wickremesinghe in the past, had died of cancer. He named Lal Wijenayake and Bodhi Ranasinghe as examples. But the UNP leader reprimanded him, saying it was not an appropriate comment to make. He pointed out that some of his supporters, too, had succumbed to the same illness.
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