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Internal divisions within certain political parties are coming out in the open during the campaign for the 2024 parliamentary elections. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is also facing such issues.

These internal divisions came out into the open once more in an embarrassing fashion during a meeting organised in Pudaluoya on Friday evening.

The meeting was held with the SLPP National Organiser Namla Rajapaksa in attendance. However, some of the party members present made their displeasure known about some of the SLPP leaders who were in attendance, most notably former minister C.B. Ratnayake, who is contesting the Nuwara Eliya district.

Some of those in attendance disrupted Mr. Ratnayake when he spoke. The protesters claimed that due to “promises” made by former MPs such as him, they were unable to even openly campaign in the villages. Mr. Ratnayake continued despite the interruptions, insisting that he never abandoned party leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and that he “did not sell the party out for money.”

Protesters also told Namal Rajapaksa that he should not re-admit “thieves” into the party, referring to some former MPs who have now left the party. “No, we won’t let them in again. Let’s stop there now,” an embarrassed Mr. Rajapaksa told those who were shouting.

US envoy perplexed by division among Tamil politicians

As the country was in a mini-crisis mode on Wednesday following the US Embassy’s travel warning, advising its citizens of possible attacks on tourists on the Eastern coast, US Ambassador Julie Chung was touring the Northern Province, meeting various people.

Among those she met included politicians, civil society outfits, war survivors, and representatives of war-affected communities.

During the meeting with All Ceylon Tamil Congress leader and former parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, she asked a pertinent question that has been burning in the minds of many Tamil people since nominations were called for the general election: why Tamil parties are splintered into several groups despite there being no significant changes in their policies.

Mr. Ponnamabalam responded by saying that he left the Tamil National Alliance in 2010 due to the party’s then decision to accept the 13th Amendment as the solution to ethnic conflict, but other parties continued to stick to that stand until the alliance broke away in recent times.

“Despite all of them sharing a similar stand on certain Tamil issues, we don’t know why they are contesting separately,” said Mr. Ponnambalam, suggesting the US envoy should ask them directly during her engagements.

Back to the queues, this time for coconuts

In view of the widespread public complaints over the sky-high prices of coconuts, the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) has now started a mobile coconut sales programme. The first phase of the programme was conducted in several areas of Colombo this week.

The expected retail price of a coconut would be around Rs. 120, an official said.

A consumer buying coconuts from a Coconut Development Authority-run mobile outlet

Under this programme, the CDA is to supply about 10,000 coconuts to the market on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. A further 5,000 coconuts will be released on other days of the week.

While initially launched in
key areas in Colombo, the programme is due to be expanded to other districts.

Long queues were observed near the mobile coconut sales outlets when the programme kicked off this week. Certain opposition politicians, as well as social media commentators, seized on the scenes to say that the country was back in the age of queues with the “Coconut Queues.”

Some private vendors, too, are making use of the situation to promote their own initiatives. A popular online delivery service has begun advertising a package deal where they will deliver 10 coconuts to customers’ homes for Rs. 1,500. The advertising tagline reads, “Bring the coconuts directly to your home without waiting in queues.”

Vadivel’s son plucks tea in election stunt

When elections are around, politicians go to any extent using all the tricks and stunts up their sleeves to gain political advantage to ensure they turn them into votes.

One such stunt by a young politician from the upcountry is making rounds on social media platforms this week.

Shane Pratheesh, son of former parliamentarian Vadivel Suresh, is contesting the election along with his father under the new party, United Democratic Voice.

Shane Pratheesh plucking tea leaves as part of his election campaign

Unlike his father, who is a known face in upcountry politics, his son is trying all the tricks in the book to make him familiar among plantation workers.

One such stunt was to try his hand plucking tea leaves with female tea pluckers. Along with his team, he went into a tea estate and requested tea pluckers to teach him how to properly pluck tea leaves from the crops.

The confused tea pluckers fixed the sack behind his back and told him to pick the leaves as others were doing. The young, ambitious politico was seen struggling to keep pace with the others when throwing the plucked tea leaves behind his back but definitely seemed to have put in some effort.

During the shoot, the politician also made sure his team got the perfect shots and footage that would be used for campaign activities. After the shoot, he told the workers that even if he didn’t win the upcoming elections, he would “do something good for them.”

Later on the day, his social media channels were filled with the content with the caption. “Yes Rotti and plain tea is my medicine yes im a proud youth from Upcountry”

Kandy MC in pickle over double lunch

The Central Provincial Council Chief Secretary, Ajith Pemasinghe, has instructed the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) not to spend council money to pay for the “lunch” allegedly ordered by the KMC for a group of investigators who had visited the MC to examine allegations of mismanagement.

Mr. Pemasinhe told the Sunday Times that when the officers went on an inspection of the Kandy Municipality, the concerned officers had taken their own lunch brought from homes. However, the MC had ordered lunch for these officers who had come on the inspection visit.

The Kandy MC has now been instructed that if lunch had been ordered by the municipality, it should be settled without disbursing Council funds for the order.

Helicopter shock for Ranjan

Actor-turned-politician Ranjan Ramanayake has been busy campaigning for his party across the country.

This week the former state minister was seen arriving in a helicopter to the meeting venues.

Journalists asked him why he was using a helicopter to travel to the venues, while other candidates could not afford air travel.

“I was due to address meetings in several parts of the country within two days and therefore had to use a helicopter,” Mr. Ramanayake explained.

A journalist pointed out to the former MP that he would soon be outspending the money permissible under the new Campaign Finance laws.

“Don’t worry. It is the public who are spending for me,” was his response.

But a journalist pointed out that this was not the case and the expenses would be calculated under his account.

“I did not know that,” a confused Mr. Ramanayake said.

Free travel pass for railway employees; what about SLTB?

The Transport Ministry has announced that railway employees are to be provided with a free train travel pass to be utilised between their area of residence and workplace.

In a statement, the ministry said railway employees are constantly criticised by the people and that the new travel pass is being granted as a step aimed at changing this situation.

The ministry said it also intended to encourage railway employees to improve their efficiency as it would benefit the nation’s economy.

The move, however, will inevitably raise questions. Why should Sri Lanka Railways be given preferential treatment? Would the Transport Ministry be willing to issue a similar travel pass to Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) employees as well?

Disaster diplomacy towards Lanka

It has become a custom for certain foreign nations to extend a helping hand whenever Sri Lanka experiences a natural hazard, be it flash floods, landslides, or drought, as these events have become annual occurrences due to the country’s vulnerability to
climate change.

The latest ‘donation’ came from China when its Ambassador, Qi Zhenhong, met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Tuesday. He handed over a donation of Rs 30 million—equivalent to USD 100,000— as emergency flood relief to assist those affected by the recent flooding in the country.

In addition to immediate relief measures, the discussion also extended to a dialogue about long-term flood prevention and management strategies, the President’s Media Division said in a statement.

Not so long ago, China came up with its general offer of fuel for fisherfolk communities and housing schemes for economic crisis-affected families in the North.

The immediate neighbour, India, also came up with similar initiatives in the recent past for its share of assisting affected communities.