The Political Column

29th March 1998

Sharpened daggers with generous digs

By our Political Correspondent

While the UNP leader is struggling to work out a formula to the Wijeyapala Mendis issue acceptable to the various groups within the UNP, a new divisive issue has suddenly emerged in the party.

It is the battle between two senior UNP frontliners, both born and bred in the SLFP, and baptized later in the UNP. The acrimonious debate between the two has seen sharpened daggers with generous and ungenerous digs - some comical and some topical.

This eruption clearly shows there have been many things burning inside the UNP which are not seen by the political eye. President Chandrika Kumaratunga's stars seem to be shining even at daytime. The intrigue which once was the monopoly of the SLFP now seems to be privatized by the UNP.

One of Ronnie de Mel's charges against Anura Bandaranaike is intriguing because among the various charges he has levelled against Anura one charge is that Anura has attacked the President, his sister.

What does this mean? Does he say that as a brother he should not attack the sister even if she is in the opposite camp in politics? Both Ronnie and Anura have shared many platforms together, and whilst Ronnie de Mel has had some hard shots at the Government in public, Anura has taken on the President mercilessly.

This particular charge of Mr. de Mel may come under serious scrutiny in various quarters and it is likely that it would be given various interpretation and constructions. Ranil Wickremesinghe has entered his 49th birthday with this unexpected explosion inside the party. He will have to take some serious decisions about the Wijeyapala Mendis issue, and it is very unfortunate that at a time when the UNP is gripped with a crisis that two of the frontliners of the party should decide to take their battle to the market place.

Since cheer squads are already in the making, this duel if unchecked by the UNP may draw in publicity seekers rushing to tender "certificates" to both parties. It is very doubtful that an early truce can be reached, and even if Mr. Wickremesinghe should succeed in a truce, still there is no guarantee that it would last. The UNP had a reputation for following certain traditions in articulating controversial views publicly. Some of these traditions seem to be eroding and one witnesses a lot of utterances by UNP stalwarts and MPs, with sometimes very contradicting and conflicting views.

This too was a problem within the SLFP earlier which has now successfully found its way into the UNP. Unless these trends are halted the UNP may lose its coherence and co-ordination which it has built over the years and the opinion that the leadership is unable to hold the ranks may gather credibility. It would be very harmful to the future of the party.

Disciplining party activists when a party is in office is easy because the leadership can clip one's wings in many ways, but disciplining party activists when in opposition can always be a problem because of intimidation and horse deals. Differences between ministers are common, but very seldom declared openly. They leave it to Sunday columnists to tell the story. A senior member of the UNP remarked, "It is time that Mr. Wickremesinghe is faithful to the motto of his Alma Mater but in this case it is not 'Learn or Depart' but 'Fall in line or Depart' lest the bulls should smash up the cart".

Speculation is that one of the two may be soon in the PA camp if a suitable vacancy is found. So, the question is, who would it be? What the public is witnessing is only charges and counter-charges of joining the Government, but neither of them has made a categorical statement that he would not join the Government.

The Anura-Ronnie clash was sparked off when a foreign correspondent asked a question from Mr. Wickremesinghe about Mr. Bandaranaike's position regarding land deals of the Bandaranaike family.

The UNP challenged the President's statement last week that the Bandaranaikes had gifted land to the state. Mr. de Mel said it was not so and such land was surrendered under the LRC Act which he supported gladly at that stage. When the UNP alleged that there had been transactions just before the Bill was passed, the foreign correspondent asked as to where Anura figured in this scenario.

Mr. de Mel replied, "unfortunately he is with us".

With this the controversy began with both men delivering charges and counter-charges.

Finally Mr. Wickremesinghe in a bid to settle the squabble spoke to both Mr. de Mel and Mr. Anura Bandaranaike.

Mr. de Mel agreed to stop the slanging match as long as Mr. Bandaranaike did not make personal references. Mr. Wickremesinghe called Mr. Bandaranaike and told him to reply only to the allegations made by Ronnie.

When Mr. Wickremesinghe found it difficult to contain both of them, he sent a special emissary to talk to Mr. Bandaranaike. The emissary was Sarath Kongahage. When he went to Mr. Bandaranaike's residence at Rosmead Place, the latter was drafting a reply to Mr. de Mel. After having read Mr. Bandaranaike's statement, Mr. Kongahage once again called Mr. Wickremesinghe to brief him on Mr. Bandaranaike's reply.

Upali Newspapers Chairman Seevali Ratwatte who was also keen to settle the matter between Anura and Ronnie spoke to Mr. Bandaranaike and Mr. Wickremesinghe suggesting a formula.

Finally both agreed to cease fire and meet at a venue arranged by Rajitha Senaratne.

The venue was Kabir Hashim's residence in Mawanella, since the UNP was planning a public meeting in Kegalle the same day. But it was cancelled since the leader was not attending the meeting as scheduled.

However after Anura's second statement in the newspapers, it was doubtful whether such a meeting would take place though Mr. Wickremesinghe was quite optimistic on Thursday.

Besides this, the main problem faced by the UNP today is the Wijeyapala Mendis civic rights issue.

The UNP's dilemma is as to what action the party should take. While some are advocating a vote of conscience, others want the UNP to defend Mr. Mendis' position. Yet some others think that Mr. Mendis should step down forthwith.

However, most of the senior UNPers are of the view that the party should take a stand on such issues, which should apply in equal measure to all the members who are found guilty by various Commissions appointed by the Government. In a bid to resolve the crisis, Mr. Wickremesinghe had a one-to-one discussion with Mr. Mendis but they failed to arrive at a concrete decision.

Referring to this meeting, Mr. Mendis said they discussed mainly about what they should do once they returned to Parliament after the boycott.

He accused the Government of violating Parliamentary procedure and tradition by taking up for debate a resolution to deprive him of his civic rights while the UNP was boycotting Parliament to protest against the political violence.

Mr. Mendis said the Government's exercise was unreasonable and emphasised that the UNP would have to reply.

Asked whether Mr. Wickremesinghe wanted him to step down, Mr. Mendis said they discussed the matter and would put it to the Parliamentary Group. "It is now fifty years after independence and I have been a member of the UNP for the last 50 years - I can't just go home," he said.

Challenging the report of the Special Presidential Commission, Mr. Mendis told this column, "I have not done anything wrong. It was the Commission which suggested that the matter would end when the land was given back and status quo restored.

Mr. Mendis has sent a copy of the relevant SPC proceedings to the UNP Parliamentary Group and the Working Committee to make an independent assessment before making a decision.

After having exposed the Wijeyapala Mendis' land deal the Government is now contemplating legislation to retake the land acquired by former ministers and affluent people for a song.

"Many people have bought large extents of land for a song depriving poor people of their rights," a senior Cabinet Minister told this column.

At the weekly Cabinet news briefing Minister G.L. Peiris said the Cabinet of Ministers had expressed their concern over the matter and the Government was considering contemplating legislation to take over such land.

In the meantime, Mr. Wickremesinghe took steps to consult the UNP Parliamentary Group on the Mendis issue.

He met UNP MPs in batches and they expressed views quite freely.

Some of them opposed the resolution but others said that Mr. Mendis should step down. Prominent among those who called for the resignation were Joseph Michael Perera, Suranimala Rajapakse and Premaratne Gunasekera.

Mr. Gunasekera said he was facing serious difficulties with the electors who alleged that the UNP was saddled with corrupt politicians.

Some party insiders quipped it was like "the pot calling the kettle black".

At the same time some other MPs said the UNP should not have waited for Commission reports to clean up the party.

They say it should have been done long time ago. They have pointed out that there are so many other party members who were involved in alleged illegal hand transactions and these things must be looked into.

However they said they were against the principle of depriving anybody of his or her civic rights.

Among the members who took this line were Mr. Kongahage and Mr. Nanda Mathew.

Kalutara District MP Tilak Karunaratne said Mr. Mendis should be defended in Parliament and the resolution defeated.

Mr. Karunaratne spoke about Mr. Mendis' contribution to the party after he became the Mayor of Negombo at the age of 21.

At the same time Mr. Mendis also feels that he has the necessary backing from the Parliamentary Group and his strength is likely to be tested this week at a meeting of the Group. According to party insiders, Mr. Mendis' meeting last week took little more than one hour where Mr. Wickremesinghe said that the resolution in Parliament would be defeated, but Mr. Mendis should step down. Obviously it was a hard decision for Mr. Mendis who did not agree.

Mr. Mendis went back with a dejected look and Mr. Wickremesinghe also looked exhausted.

However, the matter of stripping the civic rights of Mr. Mendis would not come up in Parliament during next month.

The UNP is scheduled to return to Parliament on April 7 to debate the extension of the State of Emergency.

With these developments the UNP will also move to remove Mr. Mendis from the key position as the Chief Opposition Whip.

Senior party men are of the view that with Mr. Mendis' removal from the key post the chief slot could have fallen on Ronnie de Mel, being a senior Parliamentarian and a chief spokesman of the UNP.

However with the Anura-Ronnie clash a good section of MPs now have reservations about Mr. de Mel.

Some say Mr. Mendis has brought discredit while Mr. de Mel has unnecessarily exposed the party to a debacle with personal rivalries surfacing.

With these developments Mr. de Mel's prospects of becoming Opposition Whip have been greatly affected and Mr. Bandaranaike has apparently consolidated his position within the UNP.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting the privatisation of the Eppawala Phosphate deposits figured prominently.

Scientific Affairs Minister Batty Weerakoon said he was moving amendments to the original draft agreement.

The previous Sunday Mr. Weerakoon participated in a meeting at Eppawala to protest against the privatisation of the Phosphate deposits.

While Mr. Weerakoon declared his intentions to move amendments, Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake said that he was facing serious problems due to Government's inaction.

He said that in view of the present situation he would suggest that a series of meetings be held in Anuradhapura District to educate the people on the issue.

He said Mr. Weerakoon's relentless campaign against the privatisation had even changed the minds of the SLFP supporters.

The situation in the NCP Provincial Council is also not favourable to the Government, he said.

The President who listened carefully to the observations made by Minister Dissanayake blamed the ministers for not working as a Government.

She firmly said that personal or party interests should not be reflected in the Cabinet and all members of the Cabinet are expected to work towards achieving Government's targets

"I have given freedom and tolerated you all and now it is time to hold together and abide by Cabinet decisions," the President warned.

Although Mr. Weerakoon tried to explain his position and defend himself using legal jargon creating a court-house atmosphere in the Cabinet, the President said that he would do it in a court-house and not in the Cabinet.

"Here we are taking political decisions," she said.

The President warned the ministers that they should not make any statement detrimental to the Government's interests.

Specially, she said that Mr. Weerakoon should be careful not to make such statements.

When Mr. Weerakoon said he had already given an interview to Sunday Lankadeepa on the issue the President did not make any adverse comments.

At this stage Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who intervened on Mr. Weerakoon's behalf said that since Mr. Weerakoon is a party leader he was bound by the decisions taken by his party.

In the circumstances, Mr. Rajapakse suggested that these problems should be resolved amicably and diplomatically.

The President said party decisions should be implemented at party level and those decisions should not affect decisions taken by the Cabinet.

"I am the head of the Cabinet and there should be some order in all our dealings," she said.

"I have told Minister D.M. Jayaratne to talk to Mr. Weerakoon about the matter and stop him."

When Minister Jayaratne gave a long explanation, the President said that she would allow the members to bring in amendments to the agreement, but once decided they have to abide by it.

Soon after the Eppawala discussion, Minister Mangala Samaraweera sought approval of the Cabinet to give another 10% of the shares of Sri Lanka Telecom to the Japanese firm NTT which is already holding 35% of the shares of Telecom.

There again Mr. Weerakoon said he would not agree without studying the pros and cons of the proposal.

Minister Samaraweera said it was urgent because the market value was favourable to the Government. But Mr. Weerakoon asked for more time.

Besides this, the President sought the approval of the Cabinet for the privatisation of AirLanka after explaining to the Cabinet at length the advantages and the benefits the Government could reap from this joint venture.

She told the Cabinet that the Government will hold a 51% stake of AirLanka and the rest will be sold. Since there weren't any objections, the proposal to privatise AirLanka went through the Cabinet without any hassle unlike the proposal to privatise the Phosphate deposits at Eppawala.

Besides privatisation moves, the Government is also interested in capturing power in all Provincial Councils throughout the country.

Both the Government and the Opposition are warming up for the PC polls and all parties are actively involved in the choosing of candidates. The Government is viewing the elections as a test of its popularity and the acceptability of the devolution package. Certainly, the Government has a lot at stake, and though the elections may not be fought entirely on the devolution package, any adverse result at the elections may be identified as a rejection of the package.

The UNP may want to aim its cannons on the economic hardships faced by the people and avoid the devolution package. It is very ulikely that the same coalition parties of the PA would decide to maintain the same alliance for the Provincial Council elections.

The prime target of both the UNP and the SLFP is to capture the Western Provincial Council.

The UNP had decided on Karu Jayasuriya to lead the WPC UNP team despite Anura Badaranaike's intention to contest as the UNP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the Province.

But the PA is trying to make use of this opportunity by fielding a prominent Bandaranaike as their chief ministerial candidate for the WPC.

Gampaha District being a stronghold of the SLFP, the PA believes that Sunethra Bandaranaike could perform well more than any other candidate. In the circumstances it is likely that Sunethra Bandaranaike's candidature would be announced shortly, which would underline the Bandaranaikes dominance of Sri Lankan politics.