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SLFP, JVP still locked in disputes
By Harindra Vidanage
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the JVP were locked in dispute over her position supporting devolution, while the marxists would only go as far as de-centralisation as the two parties were hammering out a final MoU for an electoral alliance by the end of the month.

A heavily JVP influenced Memorandum of Understanding with its objective being "the Establishment of Patriotic and Popular Rule" proposes "fair conditions" for proposed negotiations with the LTTE instead of "pre-conditions".

The draft document made available to The Sunday Times suggests hostility towards imports and the promotion of a national economy and questions the role of the Norwegian ceasefire monitors in the country.

The 14-page document, seen as the basis for a PA-JVP electoral pact and a political alliance, indicates a shift in President Kumaratunga's position on her earlier refusal to call for the withdrawal of the Norwegian monitors and her insistence in keeping to her 2000 Constitution proposals on devolution.

The document discusses a new economic structure for Sri Lanka, downplaying imports and promoting a local-based economy and distancing itself from foreign lending institutes such as the World Bank and the IMF.

The MoU criticises close ties with the West and slams import liberalisation while calling for foreign investment based only on equal partnerships.

The JVP has given the end of the month as an ultimatum to sign the MoU, accusing President Kumaratunga of trying to work out a consensus building exercise with the UNF at the same time.

The JVP will hold a symposuim today at the BMICH under the banner of the Desha-hiteshi Jatika Viyaparaya (DJV), and is planning to use it as a platform to forge an alternative alliance if the one with the SLFP fails.

This alternative alliance includes the Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna (BNP), the party President Kumaratunga belonged to when she broke away from her mother's Freedom Party (SLFP).

President Kumaratunga, meanwhile, distances herself from a direct participatory role in the proposed new alliance saying she will remain 'Head of State' and not assume office in any alliance. She would then be in a position to do business with the UNF, a source close to her said.

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