• Referendum move shot down
• Cooray going ahead with independent group
• Concern over Rubesinghe's call
• Hell's bells at city church
• Private TV bosses quizzed over blast

Referendum move shot down

PA leaders decide on general elections, intense lobbying for crossovers bill

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

A proposal to extend the life of Parliament by two years through a referendum was shot down on Friday night at a PA Executive Committee meeting amidst continuing political manoeuvring to get a two thirds majority for the proposed crossovers bill.

Instead the PA decision making body, including President Kumaratunga and leaders of all alliance parties, decided on a general election, but they would continue with plans to seek support of MPs of other parties for the crossovers bill, a cabinet source told The Sunday Times after the late night meeting.

He said that the bill would not be presented in Parliament on Tuesday as widely reported but a committee headed by President Kumaratunga and leaders of other parties would further study it.

It is widely expected the bill would be presented in the first week of next month in view of a February 6 deadline before which the Supreme Court will give a verdict regarding the position of the five UNP rebels who have already pledged support for President Kumaratunga.

One of the main alliance parties, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, had earlier decided to oppose the crossovers bill on the basis that it promotes mainly personal interests. But after a 90 minute meeting between President Kumaratunga and SLMC leader M. H. M. Ashraff on Thursday, there were reports that the party which has eight MPs would reconsider its position and take a decision within the next few days.

Political sources said that at the meeting with the President, Mr. Ashraff had put forward certain conditions, including extra allocations for his ministries, if the SLMC was to support the bill.

The Ceylon Workers Congress which also has eight MPs and has been wavering on this issue is expected to meet on Tuesday to take a final decision while other Tamil parties have also not taken a clear-cut decision either way.

Government sources said the approval of the crossovers bill with a two thirds majority would open the doors for more UNP and other opposition MPs to crossover and provide a sufficient majority in Parliament to push through the political reforms package to solve the ethnic conflict.

The Sunday Times learns that the crossovers bill has already been put in shape by the legal draftsman and will soon be submitted to the Supreme Court through the Speaker as an urgent bill in the national interest.

Meanwhile, the alternative UNP group led by Sarath Amunugama and Susil Moonesinghe is reported to be intensely lobbying to get more UNP MPs to join them, with numbers ranging from 7 to 18.

UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale, however, scoffed at these moves and claimed there would be no significant defection from the party.

Despite Mr. Atukorale's claims there were persistent reports throughout the week that several UNPers including Ronnie de Mel, Festus Perera, Upali Amarasiri, Ariyaratne Walpitagama and Mervyn Silva, would support the crossovers bill.

During the J. R. Jayewardene administration, the then President introduced a crossover or so-called conscience bill which enabled TULF member C. Rajadurai to join the UNP to get a portfolio. But the validity of the bill was limited only to the Parliament which functioned upto 1988.

Cooray going ahead with independent group

By Roshan Peiris

Former UNP general secretary Sirisena Cooray is going ahead with plans to field independent candidates at the upcoming general elections with the aim of building what is described as a new force for consensual politics.

"I have worked out my plan for consensual politics to build a better Sri Lanka. I feel very concerned and sorry for the UNP.

Today under the present leadership the UNP has little or no future," he told The Sunday Times.

Mr. Cooray, however, stressed he had no links with the Amunugama-Moonesinghe rebel group amidst reports that more than ten other UNP MPs were on the verge of defection.

Asked whether he would take over the leadership of the UNP in the event of a crisis, Mr. Cooray said, "If the offer is made I will most certainly accept."

Concern over Rubesinghe's call

The Foreign Correspondents Association has expressed concern over a request by Information Director Ariya Rubesinghe that news agencies should send him copies of reports filed by them.

An FCA official said Mr. Rubesinghe had called some news agencies and said he wanted to see copies relating to the President's January 3 TV talk.

He said the association discussed this at an urgent meeting and would watch the situation, though no written request or order had been made by Mr. Rubesinghe after the telephone call.

Mr. Rubesinghe said he was not imposing any new regulation but only carrying out his routine work.

Hell's bells at city church

More than hundred personnel of the Presidential Security Division moved into a leading Catholic church in Colombo and turned it into a virtual fortress for a wedding where a VVIP's daughter was the bridesmaid.

The Parish Priest Fr. Lucien Dep told The Sunday Times the PSD personnel had moved into St. Mary's Church Bambalapitiya the day before the wedding and searched the whole premises including the mission house, his room and kitchen where they opened up almirahas and cupboards.

He said they also wanted to open the collection boxes in the church to see whether there were letter bombs but he had protested against the unacceptable invasion of a religious sanctuary.

All roads to the church were blocked and all invitees were body checked while some ladies protested that even their hairdos were undone by PSD men.

The Parish priest said that after the wedding he received a spate of telephone calls from angry parishioners protesting against security measures which caused severe inconvenience to hundreds of people.

Fr. Dep spoke out in his Sunday sermon and told parishioners it would be better to keep VIP politicians out of weddings rather than causing so much trouble for others and violating the sanctity of a church. Fr. Dep hit out at politicians charging that many of them were seeking personal gain or glory and plundering the resources of a poor country, while even a holy place of worship was forced to bow to their security demands. He said he had agreed to give the popular church for the wedding but he had no idea that a VIP was involved and there would be such an invasion.

Private TV bosses quizzed over blast

By Shelani de Silva

The CID has questioned two executives of a private TV Station over the delay in carrying an appeal from President Kumaratunga in the aftermath of the suicide bomb attack on her last month.

Sirasa TV Media Director Nimal Lakshpathiarachchi and MTV News Director Tyronne Devotta were questioned separately for about four hours on Friday. The Sunday Times learns the questioning was centred on why the TV stations delayed in carrying the President's appeal sent to them through Rupavahini Director General Lakshman Perera.

Some of the questions were also connected to an alleged conspiracy to assassinate the president.

MTV sources said they had initially refused to carry the appeal when Mr. Perera made the request saying the station needed an official statement. However the station had requested Mr. Perera to himself make the appeal, but he had declined. Later the appeal was read out on MTV.

Meanwhile Mr. Perera said the CID had questioned him also on matters relating to the appeal and the delay by the private station in telecasting it.

President Kumaratunga in her January 3 TV talk attacked several media groups including MTV, accusing them of carrying out a vicious campaign against her.

In the wake of ongoing CID investigations, several private TV channels have suspended their widely viewed political programmes, including 'Rathu Ira' and 'Deshapalana Sathiya' telecast on Swarnawahini.

However an official of TNL which has also been accused of carrying out anti-Kumaratunga propaganda said they would not be suspending any political programmes. CID had questioned him also on matters relating to the appeal and the delay by the private station in telecasting it.

President Kumaratunga in her January 3 TV talk attacked several media groups including MTV, accusing them of carrying out a vicious campaign against her.

In the wake of ongoing CID investigations, several private TV channels have suspended their widely viewed political programmes, including 'Rathu Ira' and 'Deshapalana Sathiya' telecast on Swarnawahini.

However an official of TNL which has also been accused of carrying out anti-Kumaratunga propaganda said they would not be suspending any political programmes.

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