In the backdrop of this reality, the two parties are gearing for a show of strength. While the UNF derives its strength largely from its relative success in the economic and the peace fronts, the PA depends on the Presidential power to dissolve parliament. However, the PA is unlikely to pre-empt an election at a time when the ground situation is not favourable to it. The PA will wait till the UNF government makes mistakes or the people in the south lose faith in the peace process.

As a precursor to political crises that could arise after December 5, many a battle has been fought between the two parties. In some cases, the President held her ground while in some cases, the UNF had its way.

In the latest dispute over the appointment of seven new ministers, the two sides are once again playing the same old game. As usual, there were exchange of letters between the President and the Prime Minister.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga first refused to accede, then agreed to swear in all but one. She objected to the portfolio of Sarathchandra Rajakaruna, saying the subject - disaster management - was handled by a unit that came directly under her.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe referred the matter to the UNF political council which ruled that the disaster management portfolio would not clash with the duties of the Presidential unit.

The Prime Minster then wrote back to the President, explaining the UNF position and insisting that Mr. Rajakaruna be given the portfolio.

The response from the President's House was discreet. Six of the seven UNF ministerial nominees were asked to be present at the President's House at 5. 30 p.m. on Friday. Mr. Rajakaruna did not receive such an invitation.

Mr. Rajakaruna urged the Prime Minister to go ahead with the ceremony saying that he did not want to deprive others of their ministership just because of a dispute over his portfolio.

The Prime Minister told Mr. Rajakaruna that the party decided to give him a cabinet rank because he was a senior member. He said that until the President agrees to swear in all seven ministers, they all should wait.

The decision was to be conveyed to the President on Friday. The same day Presidential Spokesman Harim Pieris reiterated that there was no change in the President's decision.

However, the dispute will remain in the political cold room till the Prime Minster returns from Oslo after attending a controversial donor conference on November 25.

Though the two parties appear to have been gearing for a battle over portfolios, the cabinet meeting presided over by the President on Wednesday was held in a friendly atmosphere.

Instead of a UNF-PA clash, there was a UNF-UNF clash, when Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake objected to a cabinet paper presented by Rural Economy Minister Bandula Gunawardena for a trade centre in Meegoda.

Mr. Karunanayake said he started a similar project at Maligawatte which was not bringing the desired results and expressed fears that the Meegoda centre would also be a failure. He also said that if the Meegoda centre was set up, it would deal a severe blow to traders depending on the Dambulla centre.

Backing Mr. Gunawardena were ministers Gamini Lokuge and Gamini Jayawickrema Perera. They said the move to set up the Meegoda centre was taken after carefully studying the proposal.

As the argument gathered heat, the Prime Minister intervened and settled the matter in favour of Mr. Gunewardena. Then came an interesting cabinet paper regarding a move to bring in animals to the Zoo from foreign countries. The same paper also sought cabinet approval to bring down foreign dogs for various tasks of the police.

Minister Kodituwakku in a lighter vein said there was no need to bring down dogs from foreign countries when Sri Lanka had plenty of stray dogs. He said these stray dogs should be trained to do the job expected from the foreign dogs. But little did he realise that he had offered the President an opportunity to make tongue-in-cheek remarks using the dog story.

"Our wal ballos (stray dogs) are useless. It is difficult to train them. Other dogs can't do the work a police dog is expected to do. There are special dogs for dog work. Therefore, we must approve this proposal," said the President.

Then they took up a proposal to appoint three diplomatic postings. The President was apparently unhappy since all three nominees are political appointees. The President said that when diplomatic appointments were made the priority should be given to career diplomats. The diplomatic service would crumble if political appointees took more postings, she said.

Minister Kodituwakku, who was a one-time ambassador, said some political appointees had worked more efficiently than career diplomats. The President said, however, that in that case, they should be appointed as trade commissioners instead of heads of missions. The Prime Minster said they should study the matter further and present a report to the cabinet in a week's time.

The President gave full marks to a cabinet proposal from Education Minister Karunasena Kodituwakku. "Excellent," said the President when Mr. Kodituwakku told her that he had held talks with the PA and the JVP on the need to bring about tougher legislation to eliminate ragging in universities. He said that both the PA and the JVP had agreed to a proposal to set up a parliamentary select committee in this regard.

The cabinet meeting ended on a positive note. The President exchanged pleasantries with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Minister Karu Jayasuriya before she left the cabinet hall.

On Wednesday night, the President together with Chief Opposition Whip Mangala Samaraweera hosted a selected group of SLFP members to dinner. They talked about future plans of the party. The President reportedly bragged about a plan to topple the UNF administration within six months.

When party matters were discussed, some expressed their displeasure over Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajpakakse. The President shot back saying that "it is you who wanted him, not me. I wanted to appoint D. M. Jayaratne for the post."

While such remarks were being made behind the back of the Opposition Leader, Mr. Rajapakse was building up his support base at grassroots levels. On Wednesday, he was seen at a farmer demonstration at Angunakolapalessa, protesting against high fertilizer prices and new budget taxes on pesticide. It was not long ago Mr. Rajapakse washed his hands of a blunder Mr. Samaraweera made with regard to the traditional budget-cut proposals that were presented by the opposition for committee stage debate.

The Chief Government Whip, Mahinda Samarasinghe, blamed Mr. Samaraweera for his failure to present the proposal in time. Apparently angry over this episode, Mr. Samaraweera got an opportunity to settle the score when he noticed that a directory published by the office of the Chief Government Whip had described the present parliament as the fifth parliament.

Addressing parliament, Mr. Samaraweera said this blunder reflected the Chief Government Whip's ignorance and urged the mistake be rectified. But Mr. Samarasinghe held his ground. Displaying a book published by the Chief Government Whip's office of the PA regime last year, he said the book referred to the last parliament as the fourth parliament. "This is the fifth parliament, not the 12th as you claimed," Mr. Samarasinghe said.

The Chief Government Whip said the counting should begin from 1972 when Sri Lanka was declared as a sovereign republic.

When the dispute between the two whips was finally referred to the Speaker, he held with the Chief Government Whip.

- Courtesy Lankadeepa.

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