Mini-poll blues rock UNF

With Mr. Rajapakse's appointment, doors have been opened for politicians other than the Bandaranaike's to reach the top slot in the party, making it more democratic, SLFP insiders say.

The appointment of Mr. Rajapakse is seen as a victory for the majority will in the party with many party members backing his candidacy on the basis that he is a man of action.

According to insiders, it is after much careful thought that President Kumaratunga who is also the SLFP leader decided to give the top post to Mr. Rajapakse. Though a majority of the SLFPers backed Mr. Rajapakse, some believed that his candidacy might not get the nod from Ms. Kumaratunga. This was not because of the Bandaranaike factor but because of an assumption that the President would opt for a person like Richard Pathirana so that she could control him with greater ease. When the SLFP-led PA was in government, Mr. Rajapakse was not her favoured choice to hold important positions or portfolios. But after the December 5 election defeat, she had no alternative but to appoint Mr. Rajapakse as the leader of the opposition.

The Kumaratunga nod for Mr. Rajapakse came as a surprise, because many believed she was grooming her brother Anura Bandaranaike to become the party leader and the next presidential candidate. It is in this context, they believed that she would opt for a lame duck for the opposition leader's post so that Mr. Bandaranaike could take over without much difficulty after some time. 

But realizing the wave of support Mr. Rajapakse was having in the party, she had to make the hard choice of nominating Mr. Rajapakse for the opposition leader's post.

Mr. Rajapakse is known to be a "bull worker" and has the leadership quality and ability to build up the party from the scratch, loyalists say. They say he is even capable of taking back those who defected from the party and joined the UNF. The Rajapakse loyalists believe that defections took place not because they had lost interest in their old party but because of the personal problems they had with President Kumaratunga.

It is believed that Mr. Rajapakse is in constant touch with some of the defectors who hold important portfolios in the UNF government. If this is true, then the appointment of Mr. Rajapakse as the leader of the opposition is not good news for the UNF. It is also believed that President Kumaratunga had obtained an assurance from Mr. Rajapakse that he would work along with her to bring the defeated People's Alliance back to power. The Kumaratunga-Rajapakse talks appear to have buried the cold war between the two that culminated in an unsavoury incident at a 'Padayatra' campaign a decade ago. The party's rank and file is hailing the President's move saying she put the party's interest ahead of self-interest, sidelining her brother, Anura. 

Mr. Rajapakse was a staunch Anura loyalist when Ms. Kumaratunga parachuted herself into the party and staked a subtle claim for the leadership during a leadership battle between the brother and sister in the early 1990s. The rise of Mr. Rajapakse to the top opposition post has caused some heartburn in the party. When the post became vacant upon the resignation of Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, some party stalwarts tried to persuade him to stay on, apparently in a bid to block Mr. Rajapakse's claim to the post. 

At the opposition parliamentary group meeting last week, the conspicuous absentees were PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne, Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mangala Samaraweera.

Both Mr. Jayaratne and Mr. Siripala de Silva had claimed earlier that the reports about Mr. Wickremanayake's resignation were another political stunt of the UNF backed by the so-called free media. Those who opposed Mr. Rajapakse's claim to the opposition leader's post were of the view that his appointment would not augur well for the party because the President and he did not get along well. For instance, besides the Padayatra incident, the President halted an ambitious workers' charter prepared by Mr. Rajapakse. 

The resignation of the former leader of the opposition came amid growing discontent among the party rank who began to entertain a view that he would not be the right person to build up the party. Mr. Wickremanayake gracefully bowed to the wishes of the party rank and file and almost announced his retirement from politics. He withstood pressures from party seniors who wanted him to stick to his position until matters were sorted out and sent in his resignation before he went for medical treatment overseas. 

His son Chathura handed over his father's resignation letter to one of Mr. Wickremanayake's secretaries, asking him to dispatch it to the Speaker's office. But the secretary delivered the letter to the President's House while a copy was faxed to the Speaker's office in the evening of Wednesday January 29, thus triggering confusion.

Speaker Joseph Michael Perera refused to accept the resignation letter since he was not sure whether it was authentic. But a week later, on Wednesday February 6, he gave the green light to Mr. Rajapakse's appointment, having accepted the resignation of Mr. Wickremanayake.

Bringing forth the statesman in him, Mr. Rajapakse told the PA Parliamentary Group meeting on Wednesday, that he would not only extend full support to the government to successfully complete the peace process started by the President but also to all people-friendly measures.

Mr. Rajapakse said the opposition put together has polled more votes than the government and therefore as a responsible opposition they had to cater to the aspirations of the people.

Mr. Rajapakse has the blessings of the Maha Sangha too, — a factor which is becoming increasingly important in Sri Lankan politics. A few years ago, the Malwatta Chapter conferred on him the title 'Rohana Jana Ranjnana' in recognition of his services to the motherland and the Buddha Sasana.

All in all, Mr. Rajapakse would be a formidable opponent to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in any given situation. Mr. Rajapakse's appointment at the same time would likely to cause problems for Sajit Premadasa who had a running battle with him during the past election.

But it is time to bury the hatchet and work towards achieving a common goal. Such an approach will be a panacea for all our socio-political and economic ills. 

Crisis in the UNF

The crisis in the PA over the opposition leadership appears to be over, but a worse scenario is developing in the UNF with several ministers expressing dissatisfaction over the state of affairs.

Some ministers complain that they don't have direct access to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and had to go through his friends if they are to convey a message. Others say they are told to sort out matters with Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte.

Some cabinet rank hopefuls are also disturbed since the proposed cabinet reshuffle is yet to take place. It was earlier reported that non-cabinet ministers Karunasena Kodituwakku, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Imtiaz Bakeer Makar, Ravi Karunanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Milinda Moragoda and P. Chandrasekaran were to be elevated to cabinet rank.

There are also reports of clashes between ministers. Last week, this column wrote about a row between Ministers Milinda Moragoda and Jayalath Jayawardena. The latest clash involves Ministers Periyasamy Chandrasekaran and Arumugam Thondaman. The two ministers, though having contested on a common UNF platform, have been vying for dominance among the plantation Tamils.

Besides this battle for plantation leadership, the two ministers have been given similar subjects and naturally clashes do occur in every move they make. Mr. Chandrasekaran is entrusted with estate infrastructure while Thondaman, a cabinet minister, is assigned with Plantation Infrastructure. Mr. Chandrasekaran has so far made several representations to the Prime Minister who is reported to have assured him that he would be elevated to cabinet rank with statutory functions assigned to him.

The two ministers also had differences of opinion over the way candidates for the March local polls were selected. The Thondaman camp alleges that preference has been given to Chandrasekaran's Up-country People's Front candidates in Nuwara Eliya. Some 800 Colombo businessmen from plantation areas felicitated Mr. Chandrasekaran in recognition of his services to the estate Tamils. Political observers saw the event as Tamil businessmen rallying round Mr. Chandrasekaran as against Mr. Thondaman. On Friday afternoon Mr. Thondaman submitted his resignation from the cabinet, sending ripples through the UNF.

The resignation followed Mr. Thondaman's allegation that new names were included in the nominations paper after he gave him his final nod.

Along with Mr. Thondaman, CWC member Muthu Sivalingam who is also a deputy minister in the UNF government submitted his resignation to protest over what has taken place. Mr. Thondaman immediately directed his officials to hand over all official vehicles to the authorities before he was summoned before Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for crisis talks at Temple Trees. Earlier too a similar incident took place when the UNP introduced Mano Ganeshan's name to the nomination list at the December 2001 General Elections. The crisis talks between Thondaman and the Prime Minister was held at Temple in the presence of Minister Ravi Karunanayake and UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrema.

It was Mr. Karunanayake along with few others who was instrumental in getting Mr. Thondaman to the United National Front just before the December 5 General Elections. During the talks Prime Minister Wickremesinghe promised to rectify the errors and Mr. Thondaman agreed to withdraw his letter of resignations. The Prime Minister said that what has happened is "Malafide" but in relation to him it was a bonafide since he was not aware what had exactly taken place. 

Prime Minster also ordered an immediate inquiry into the allegations against several organisers in Badulla, Hali -Ela and Nuwara Eliya areas.

On Saturday morning he had a meeting with all UNP organisers where he said a committee to find out the actual cause for the rejection of UNP nominations in 7 areas and stern action would be taken against those who were responsible.

The committee is likely to be appointed on Monday at a meeting of the UNP's working committee.

Karu's power crisis

In yet another crisis within the UNF, Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya feels there is an orchestrated campaign against him, especially in sections of the media over the power crisis. 

Questions are being asked as to why no decision has been taken on new power projects though tenders had been closed on January 22. Karu loyalists say they suspect the delay is caused deliberately to discredit Mr. Jayasuriya.

Some believe Minister Jayasuriya has been preoccupied with the problems of his Ministry and this has led some to believe that he has lost clout in the party. One indication is the refusal to accommodate Mayor Omar Kamil, a Karu loyalist, as the Mayoral candidate for the upcoming elections. Mr. Kamil ran out of favour in the face of growing opposition from some party heavy weights such as M.H. Mohamed, M. Maharoof and Milinda Moragoda. At a party meeting presided over by the Prime Minister, a case against Mr. Kamil was built up with some claiming that most councillors were not in favour of him. Mr. Kamil was offered a diplomatic assignment subsequently. Insiders say the soft spoken Kamil went out of favour since he did not work according to the whims and fancies of some Colombo MPs.

"He carried forward former Mayor Karu Jayasuriya's work and performed an excellent job for the city dweller, yet he is out," an insider told this column.

City dwellers are now faced with the choice of voting for an unknown mayoral candidate — Prasanna Gunawardene, a younger brother of Indika and Dinesh Gunawardene.

In a related move, Navin Dissanayake, son of former UNP heavyweight Gamini Dissanayake and son-in-law of Mr. Jayasuriya, tendered his resignation from the post of Nuwara Eliya organiser, charging that his views had been overlooked in selecting candidates for the local polls.

"My views and comments have been completely overlooked by certain sections of the party leaders in the selection of candidates for the upcoming Local Government Elections.… I feel it is no longer credible for me to remain as an organizer. I do not wish to continue as a 'cardboard' organizer. If Siri Kotha wishes to make all decisions without the inputs and views of the organizer, then there is no point in being an organizer," Mr. Dissanayake said in his letter to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

At the UNP group meeting on Thursday, leader Ranil Wickremesinghe made it a point to give an oblique warning to Deputy Minister Navin Dissanayake. Mr. Wickremesinghe said, if somebody wanted to resign from party posts he should surrender everything including all perks and privileges. He cited the example set by late Minister Gamani Jayasuriya and also ministers G.L. Peiris, S.B. Dissanayake and the likes in the recent past.

During the proceedings, Sarathchandra Rajakaruna denied the reports of his resignation from the post of organizer from the Attanagalle seat and attributed the rumour to mischief makers in the media. Mr. Wickremesinghe directed Chief government Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe to correct the media reports. Soon after the group meeting, Mr. Dissanayake was seen going towards the Prime Minister's office at the Parliament complex where he told Mr. Wickremesinghe that he did not have anything against the Prime Minister but he had problems with the so-called coordinators who, he alleged, had overlooked his views and comments with regard to the nominations for the Local Government election. 

It is learnt that there were several others who were not happy with the way the nomination lists were prepared. However, only one of them had the courage to take up the matter with the leader.

The UNP was also concerned about the conspicuous absence of Hindu Affairs Minister T. Maheswaran when the Vote on Account was put to vote on Thursday. Fortunately for the UNF, the opposition did not call for a division. Mr. Maheswaran is very likely to be queried by the Government Whip for his failure to appear during the vote.

The peace process

Amid all these party disputes, the UNF government's priority number one - the peace process — is showing a steady progress with the government extending the ceasefire agreement to cover, sea, and air in addition to land.

According to reports, the two sides are now ready to sign an agreement for a permanent ceasefire by February 24. It is also reported that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe would visit the United States shortly after a visit to Singapore. He is likely to brief the US political leaders on the progress of the peace initiative. The Prime Minister has taken a personal interest in the peace initiative and doesn't want any other unwitting mishap occurring in a volatile situation. As a sequel to this he has told ministers to put off their proposed visits to the LTTE controlled Wanni area.

In the meantime, Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando had a meeting with pro-LTTE British Parliamentarian Pasry Gardiner in London. Mr. Gardiner is reported to have said he was pleased with the way the peace process was being conducted. He asked Mr. Fernando whether he could be of any help to the government.

Minister Fernando said that it is important to allay fears of the people in the South, if the peace process was to achieve its target.

It is clear now that the UNF government is going in the right direction as far as the peace initiative is concerned, while at the same time trying to put the economy on the right track.

On Tuesday Finance Minister K.N. Choksy presented the Vote on Account with Minister Rohitha Bogollagama outlining the economic programme of the Wickremesinghe government.

Minister Bogollagama said: "The UNF government had brought management to the country. The quality of management and accountability have been brought to governance under the leadership of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

"We plan things ahead. These are the lessons others should learn from the UNF. There is a constitutional requirement on us to bring a vote on account

"It is said changes always bring opportunities. This is a change for the better and this administration was needed by the people and the nation."