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JVP,
JHU mount pressure on Mahinda He arrived right on time, raised both hands and clasped them together to greet the large crowds. There were cheers. Even if she had not arrived by then, the fact that former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, was due was known. Her security detail was present. So much so, Mr. Rajapaksa had asked those responsible for making arrangements to make sure Ms Kumaratunga's speech came after he made his one. That is not all. He had also made sure a chair was kept closer for her to occupy. When he ended his address, there was still no Ms Kumaratunga. Instead, President Rajapaksa learnt only a letter had arrived. It was addressed to the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Maithripala Sirisena. She had been piqued that the event had been organised without her permission. As a leader who imbibed in party discipline, Ms. Kumaratunga claimed, she could not accept a letter of a few lines hurriedly inviting her to the event. Mr Sirisena was evidently ruffled but Mr. Rajapaksa regretted he knew about the letter only after he concluded his speech. Otherwise, he said, he would have made reference to the letter and provided suitable answers to the issues raised. He felt she had no right to raise such a query. The reason - this was not an event related to the SLFP. It was an event for all UPFA candidates. Kumaratunga had resigned from the leadership of the UPFA. Moreover, she was not even a member of any UPFA Committee either. Why then is she complaining about a delayed invitation? The matter did not end there. A meeting of senior SLFP stalwarts chaired by Mr. Rajapaksa later took a unanimous decision to back Mr. Sirisena in his latest controversy with Ms. Kumaratunga. Among those taking part were Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Nimal Siripala de Silva. Now, Mr. Sirisena will reply Ms. Kumaratunga that she had blundered in pulling him up over last Wednesday's event. President Rajapaksa, who was angry at Ms. Kumaratunga's continued actions against his administration, declared Ms. Kumaratunga should take over the UPFA local elections campaign and conduct it personally. "I will not interfere at all. Let her do her best and make sure there is victory for our candidates," he declared. Some SLFPers thought Kumaratunga's cancellation of a scheduled flight to London on Friday was because she had taken President Rajapaksa's advice seriously. There was no such thing. On Saturday, she took wing to London. As usual, she was late to the airport and kept a Sri Lankan Airlines flight waiting for more than 20 minutes. Neither the Government nor the national career seemed to have learnt a lesson from previous delays. Many of the London bound passengers, who feared a longer delay, were seen protesting to the airline staff they feared they would miss onward connections from London. Ms. Kumaratunga‘s aides said this time she planned to stay six months in the United Kingdom which means she will play no role in the local polls despite all the fuss and fury. And the only meeting she attended before taking wings to London also became an embarrassment to Ms. Kumaratunga. She had gone to Biyagama responding to a request by SLFP organiser for the area, Shalitha Wijesundera. When she rose to speak, there was heckling. "I am prepared to face anything," warned Ms. Kumaratunga. There was more heckling, this time with boos, hoots and catcalls. She had to cut short her speech and later make an unceremonious exit. President Rajapaksa was also busy with separate debriefing sessions with some of his ministers who were members of the Sri Lanka delegation to the Geneva peace talks. Some startling developments outside the Geneva agenda came to light. Before the delegation left Sri Lanka, Mr. Rajapaksa had issued a directive that no member of the delegation should take their spouses. He had even turned down a request from Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle to take his wife along. It came to light that Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Rohitha Bogollagama, had gone to Geneva with his wife and two sons. He had checked into a suite at the Geneva Hilton whilst all other members of the Sri Lanka delegation had to make do with the scant residential facilities available at the Chateau de Bossey, the venue of the conference. Delegation members had several difficulties. At one point, it was found that Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Commander of the Navy was allotted a room near the staircase used by members of the LTTE delegation. He had to be shifted. If Sri Lanka delegation members had attached baths, there were none for the LTTE team. They had to use a common bath and toilets. Due to security reasons, particularly in view of fears of the possibility of bugs being placed at Chateau de Bossey, members of the Sri Lanka delegation had their private consultations together at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Geneva. Mr. Bogollagama had arrived there for the meeting with his son. An embarrassed delegation leader Nimal Siripala de Silva telephoned the Operations Room at "Temple Trees" to tell President Rajapaksa about the situation. The President told him to ask Mr. Bogollagama to tell his son to withdraw. "If you cannot tell him, ask Jeyaraj (Fernandopulle) to speak to him," said Mr. Rajapaksa. But Mr. de Silva did speak to Mr. Bogollagama. He was told that he was training his son in politics and wanted him to learn what was going on. The father and son stayed put as the Sri Lanka delegation went on to discuss issues they faced with the LTTE. Now that the delegation has returned, President Rajapaksa has taken a serious view of Mr. Bogollagama's conduct. This is not the first time he had chosen hotels of his liking, all of them expensive. Some Ministers complained to President Rajapaksa that they were all body-searched and their brief cases inspected by Swiss security every time they entered Chateau de Bossey. It was only after Embassy officials raised issue that this treatment was called off. Even the LTTE members had been subjected to body search. The President's brother, Basil Rajapaksa was also on hand in Geneva whilst the talks got under way. He stayed in a different hotel and met Erik Solheim, Norway's Minister for International Development. He also visited the Sri Lanka Embassy in Geneva for meetings with the Government delegation. He was in regular contact with President Rajapaksa. Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who did not speak during the Geneva talks has become a special invitee of LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan. He has asked him to visit Kilinochchi after he visits the Madhu Shrine in Mannar. Government sources say Mr. Fernandopulle was one of those who maintained a dialogue with the LTTE on behalf of the Government. This has been through private channels. He was also seen talking to Mr. Thamilselvan and other members of the LTTE delegation at Chateau de Bossey. The Government's commitment at the Geneva talks to "respecting and upholding the Ceasefire Agreement" has angered both the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). JVP leader, Somawansa Amerasinghe has sought a meeting with President Rajapaksa and is to lodge a strong protest over this matter. The JVP's politburo has decided that if any more concessions are granted at the upcoming round of talks in April, the party would pull out of the UPFA Government. Without the support of 39 JVP MPs, the Government will become a minority in Parliament. The JHU, on the other hand, has roundly condemned the Government's role at the Geneva talks. Upon his return to Colombo, Basil Rajapaksa had tried to reach JHU's Champaka Ranawaka. He had avoided answering his telephone. Thereafter, he had spoken to Udaya Gammanpilla, the spokesman of the lay-faction of the JHU in a bid to soften the JHU stance. The JHU's all out attack on the Government over the Geneva talks comes in the backdrop of another incident. Whilst the talks were under way in Geneva, JHU's Champaka Ranawaka had driven his own car into Temple Trees to be at the "Operations Room." He had wanted to keep tabs on what has been going on. At the entrance, he had been told to subject his car to security checks. This was a routine procedure followed by President Rajapaksa's security personnel. Following such standard procedures would have been of help to Mr. Ranawaka in the event of an incident. Though he will not be suspected by any means that would eliminate possibilities of anyone hiding weapons or bombs in his vehicle. But angered by the request, he had driven away. When the news reached President Rajapaksa, he had inquired from security staff what had happened. Later, as a matter of courtesy he had asked a senior police official to meet Mr. Ranawaka and express his regrets over what happened. The latter had responded by saying it was not a big issue. This week the peace operations committee chaired by Minister Mangala Samaraweera also met JVP and JHU representatives. It was Udaya Gammanpilla of the JHU who raised the issue over whether the events in Geneva were for the benefit of the upcoming local polls. If it was not, he said there would be problems for President Rajapaksa. So both the JVP and the JHU are waiting for the next Geneva round of talks in April. If any more concessions are granted to the LTTE, they would withdraw support to the Government. If no progress is made at the talks due to a tough stance by the Government, it would be the LTTE that would withdraw from the talks. Either way, there is a critical situation. That is the dilemma now for President Rajapaksa's administration on the political front. This is whilst the woeful lack of checks and balances in the defence establishment has become the cause for serious concerns. |
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