Political Column

Political Column

After back-stabbing, now back-slapping
Is the Bandaranaike era really ending?
By Our Political Editor
Percy Mahinda Rajapakse, an icon among southern politicians, crowned his 38-year-old political career with a remarkable victory this week.
Overcoming a string of obstacles from within his own SLFP, he became their candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections. If all goes well, he is only one step away from the Presidency. For that, he will have to defeat another formidable rival, Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Mr. Wickremesinghe has already given a wake up call to the ruling party that a silent mass of people are staunchly behind him. This was through his successful Jana Bala Meheyuma (Operation People’s Power) demanding Presidential elections this year. President Chandrika Kumaratunga continues to insist polls will be in November 2006.

But the man who holds the key is the Elections Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake. He has assured that an announcement would be made at the appropriate moment. It is logical to expect such a declaration to be made in the coming month or two. This is because a ruling on the issue had to be made well ahead of the end of this year. That technicality apart, the main contenders are now known and the political battle lines are getting clearly defined.

There are a number of reasons why becoming the SLFP’s Presidential candidate is remarkable for Rajapakse. Ever since the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike walked out of the UNP more than five decades ago and formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the leadership has revolved around his family. After his assassination, it was wife Sirimavo. Due to the suspension of her civic rights, Hector Kobbekaduwa was made the party candidate at the Presidential elections in October 1982. But he was no match for the late J.R. Jayewardene. He won. Taking the SLFP leadership after her mother, was daughter Chandrika. Rajapakse, the southerner has now broken that chain of a family dynasty.

Even Kumaratunga who wanted the dynastical order to continue could do very little to stop Rajapakse. It was hardly two weeks ago she told her party men during a meeting in Anuradhapura, taking baskets of flowers to temples was not a qualification to become the President of the country. She said she was the one who would choose the next Presidential candidate. People who had robbed money or killed people, she declared, would find it difficult to become leaders of the SLFP.

Unlike Kumaratunga, Rajapakse is a street fighter who has spent a larger part of his political life on streets and villages than in the comfort of palatial homes. He hit back at a meeting in Tangalle that followed the hand over of houses to tsunami victims. He wanted to know if being born in a Walauwa was the only qualification to rule Sri Lanka. He also wanted to know since when was it wrong for a Buddhist to visit temples.

Weeks earlier, he was in the eye of a political storm after accusations that he transferred Rs 82 million meant for tsunami victims to a private account in the local branch of a foreign bank. The CID which has reported that the money has not been touched has sent a dossier to the Attorney General’s Department.

“The unanimous decision to nominate me as the Presidential candidate is an endorsement of the confidence my party has in me,” Rajapakse told state owned Independent Television Network (ITN) Chairman, Newton Gunaratne. “All the mud slinging has not worked and the campaign will continue. I am not going to be deterred by these things,” he said. Mr. Gunaratne had turned up at “Temple Trees,” the official residence of the Prime Minister to tell him that a TV programme on Mr. Rajapakse’s controversy was being aired that night. That investigative documentary showed there was no misappropriation on Mr. Rajapakse’s part, he pointed out.

It was not only the ITN boss who had made contact with Mr. Rajapakse. Even the man who ran all Rupavahini operations, a close confidant of President Kumaratunga, Director General Nishantha Ranatunga had telephoned him. He gave him a brief of the news bulletin for that day. So did number of government officials. An amused Mr. Rajapakse aide humorously summed up the new wave of support and co-operation. “All the flies from Janadipathi Mandiraya have begun swarming into Temple Trees” and added “there will be more hangers on here now.”
This new “migration” of party loyalists, officials, supporters and well wishers from Kumaratunga to Rajapakse showed how the gravity of power was shifting from one epicentre to another. At least Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar had sensed this and wanted certain checks and balances to make sure Kumaratunga was not isolated. More on that subject later.

There were other obstacles for Mr. Rajapakse even before he was named the Presidential candidate of the SLFP. Although the Constitution required a President to exercise some responsibilities in consultation with the Prime Minister, he was kept in the dark about the swearing in of a Cabinet Minister. This was the appointment of Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena as the Minister of Cultural Affairs. Mr. Rajapakse had learnt of it only after Mr. Abeywardena used his mobile phone to say he was on his way to take oaths. Feathers were ruffled at the Janadipathi Mandiraya when news reached that Mr. Rajapakse had met an SLFP lawyers group.

Orders arrived from Kumaratunga to halt another meeting Rajapakse was to have. This was at 2 pm on Friday July 22 with ten delegates from the SLFP Kantha Samithi. Those who were not among the ten had complained to Kumaratunga. She wrote asking that Rajapakse stop the meeting. But an old administrative hand at the SLFP headquarters had told Kumaratunga her directive had not been carried out. Telephone calls arrived at Temple Trees from Presidential staff. They were told that the meeting, arranged at the request of the Kantha Samithi members, was called off after the directive. In fact a letter confirming the cancellation had been sent to SLFP General Secretary, Maithripala Sirisena.

Whilst all this political shadow boxing was going on, Cabinet Minister Mangala Samaraweera was engaged in a shuttle diplomacy of sorts. He had lengthy chats with Rajapakse and Anura Bandaranaike. Later, with the help of Deputy Minister Sripathi Sooriyaratchi he had formulated a draft to amend the SLFP Constitution.

Around 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday July 26, the party committee tasked to pick a presidential candidate had gathered at Janadipathi Mandiraya. They were awaiting Kumaratunga’s return. She had gone to address officers of the security forces and the Police on the P-TOMS at the BMICH. When she turned up, she said Minister Arumugam Thondaman was there and wanted time to talk to him.

The delays were telling on a committee member – former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. He found time to crack a few jokes. He proposed that a board be placed on the door outside to say “nominations closed.” By then Kumaratunga arrived.

When the meeting started there was some confusion. Kumaratunga thought the meeting was to plan out strategy for a presidential election campaign. She asked whether they had the power to decide on a nominee. Mangala Samaraweera was quick to say they did. When she contested it, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Maithripala Sirisena said the Committee’s recommendation could be ratified by the Central Committee. What if there were aspirants in the Central Committee for the presidency? Samaraweera was to say there were none for that office but there may be many for the post of Prime Minister. There was laughter all-round when Kumaratunga asked “are you one of them?” It was decided to go ahead and have the decisions endorsed by the Central Committee.

Mangala Samaraweera now unveiled the home work he had done through shuttle diplomacy. (1) He said there should be a suitable party candidate to match UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe. (2) There should be a Prime Ministerial nominee acceptable to all. (3) The Constitution of the SLFP should be amended to confer greater powers on the leader, President Kumaratunga. The latter was to place on the same level as Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. As leader of the Congress Party she wielded immense clout though Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.

Senior SLFPer and their veteran trade unionist, Alavi Mowlana, now Governor Western Province, said, “without wasting time I propose that Mahinda Rajapakse be the presidential candidate and Anura Bandaranaike the Prime Ministerial nominee.” Kumaratunga thereafter checked individually with all those present whether they agreed. Then without anyone seconding it, the proposal was carried.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar wanted the candidates to ensure one thing was always clear. That is the political and administrative responsibilities. For example, he said, the two candidates should not directly deal with armed forces chiefs or the Police chief. They must engage in their campaigns and leave those aspects to President Kumaratunga. That way there would be a healthy delineation of functions.
He paid tribute to Anura Bandaranaike for “the great sacrifice” he had made. Bandaranaike, the Foreign Minister said, had all the qualifications to be a presidential candidate. He was the son of two Prime Ministers, father and mother and was the sister of the President. But it was commendable he had supported Rajapakse.

Samaraweera who was the next to speak referred to Kadirgamar thanking Anura. He said more importantly, thanks should go to Kumaratunga. She had made a great sacrifice in agreeing to this. This presidential candidacy was changing from the Bandaranaike family. “I need it. I need that tribute,” declared Kumaratunga. She said “some people said I would do to Mahinda what was done to Kobbekaduwa during his presidential campaign. That was wrong. I was with him.” Someone said this. Samaraweera said it was JVP’s Wimal Weerawansa. He said no one thanked Kumaratunga so far. Rajapakse thanked Kumaratunga and promised to work faithfully under her leadership and guidance. Tears welled in Kumaratunga’s eyes and she was visibly emotional when Rajapakse clasped his hands, bowed and greeted her to say thank you.

Kumaratunga said they should launch Rajapakse’s inaugural polls campaign on September 2. It occurred to her then that she would be in China that day. She later re-fixed the date for September 6.

Kumaratunga made an appeal to those present – not to tell even their spouses about the decision until the Central Committee endorsed it. But before the participants at the meeting reached their homes, the news was out. The news was in everyone’s lips when the Central Committee endorsed the decision and it was publicly announced on Thursday.
When the meeting had ended, the participants were discussing how to get the JVP back into the fold. One of them said he would soon talk to Wimal Weerawansa. He was of the view that the JVP would be amenable since they did not wish to see a UNP President. They would also be happy to deal with Rajapakse. In such an event, some were of the opinion that a presidential poll in 2005 would be advantageous. But that would be against Kumaratunga’s wishes.

Herein lies a problem. With the UPFA now a minority in Parliament, its budget proposals in November, this year are sure to be defeated. That is if the UNP does not decide to refrain from voting, a move that will depend on whether they win their demand for presidential elections in 2005. If they win Kumaratunga’s term will become short and a presidential poll will determine the next winner. If they don’t and the budget is defeated, Parliament will have to be dissolved. Such an eventuality may see a general election where the SLFP, the UNP and the JVP are most likely to contest separately. That will, no doubt, place the UNP at an advantage to be ahead of the others. Yet there will be a hung parliament.

A more bizarre scenario is not altogether impossible. What if Kumaratunga resigns from the Presidency? The House would thus have to elect the Prime Minister to overlook the Presidency. This is until the Parliament picks on the person who enjoys the confidence of the majority to be the acting President for the remaining period. If by chance, Parliament is dissolved before the election of a President, it would mean the Prime Minister would have to continue the remaining term of the President.

But at a parliamentary general election that will follow, the Prime Minister will not be eligible to become candidate at the general elections in terms of the Constitution. Such a scenario in today’s context could see Kumaratunga enter Parliament and Rajapakse enjoying the office of President until 2006. What will follow next? She would still be powerful though not President because amendments to the SLFP constitution would have made up for it.

Hence, both Rajapakse and his rival Wickremesinghe have a long way to go on the road to Presidency. The man from Beliatte has braved the enemy from within and is bracing himself confidently for the campaign. Wickremesinghe is fortunate. He has no more internal coups but only a poll to face. Whether it is in 2005 or 2006 remains the question.

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