When one talks about tea and politics in Sri Lanka, the unforgettable character is Saumyamoorthy Thondaman. His movement, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), plays a dominant role in linking tea with politics.
For the past eighteen years Mr. Thondaman has emerged as the most successful politician in the Sri Lankan political arena.
Known as the kingmaker, he enjoyed equal privilege and power under President J.R. Jayewardene and President R. Premadasa but his relationship with President D.B. Wijetunga was shaky.
After the defeat of the UNP in 1994, Mr. Thondaman, however, managed to get into the PA ranks but with opposition from others. Though uncomfortable as a minister in President Kumaratunga's government he still rides high as the most successful politician of our times.
In politics the CWC's main aim was obviously to see that no one other than the CWC should give leadership to the plantation workers.
No doubt, Mr. Thondaman has rendered great service to his community but it is also now becoming clear that he would like to see the Thondaman family continue as the leaders of the plantation workers in Sri Lanka.
The little opposition that emerged through the Kandurata Janatha Party (UPF) had given endless worries to Mr. Thondaman for he thought its leader P. Chandrasekeran would be a threat.
In a recent newspaper interview Mr. Thondaman said he would be willing to talk to Mr. Chandrasekeran but not to S. Sellasamy his erstwhile deputy for years.
Mr. Sellasamy left the CWC during President D.B. Wijetunga's time after differences with Mr. Thondaman came to a head.
Mr. Sellasamy who held the post of General Secretary of the CWC for long years was a Deputy Minister under the Premadasa regime and during the short period President Wijetunga ruled the country.
With Mr. Sellasamy's departure Mr. Thondaman felt the need of a strong personality to hold the much important General Secretary post. He knew that the opposition from Mr. Sellasamy was minimal but saw Mr. Chandrasekaran as a force to be reckoned with.
Hence with the apparent long term idea of crowning his own grandson Arumugam as the leader of the CWC, Mr. Thondaman thinks the most appropriate step at this stage is to bring Mr. Chandrasekaran into the CWC and make him the General Secretary. But the move is opposed by many.
Of the six vice presidents of the CWC, only P. Kandasamy who won the tender to develop the Galle Port, is willing to toe Mr. Thondaman's line.
Not only Mr. Thondaman's supporters, but the intellectuals within Mr. Chandrasekaran's group are also opposing the move sensing the grandfather-grandson grand plan to dominate the plantation sector and the national political arena.
Mr. Thondaman also thinks that he could create a new image among the plantation workers if he takes Mr. Chandrasekaran in, but others think Mr. Thondaman's move is intended to beat back growing opposition in the plantation sector.
Mr. Thondaman and Mr. Chandrasekaran are reported to have met on several occasions to work out the modalities for the latter's entry to the CWC. Mr. Thondaman has apparently agreed to give a post to Mr. Chandrasekaran's representatives in the Central Provincial Council too. For this he is trying to strike a deal with Puthrasigamani, a minister in the Central Provincial Council.
At the same time Mr. Thondaman wants to strengthen his ties with the People's Alliance and the LTTE.
The CWC thinking is that the harder the LTTE strikes the government, the more it would want the help of the CWC. Mr. Thondaman may want to portray himself as the unofficial spokesman of the LTTE while his grandson maintains good relationship with the PA.
But the idea of making his grandson the leader of the CWC is being met with vehement opposition from others who matter in the CWC. They think Arumugam just doesn't have the capacity to lead the CWC like his grandfather.
Financially, too, the CWC is in a bad shape with expenditure going beyond the income. Officials attribute this to the extravagance of the highups.
The government, however, wants to maintain its links with the CWC specially in view of the forthcoming local government elections. The PA hopes to win the Central and other plantation areas with the help of the CWC. So it would be advantageous for Minister Thondaman and his CWC to play their cards before joining up in an alliance with the PA to fight the UNP. Apart from the plan to link up with the CWC for the local elections some quarters in the PA also planned an attack on Minister Srimani Athulathmudali on the bus-fare crisis.
At the weekly meeting of Ministers on Wednesday, the first item on the agenda was the imminent threat by the private bus owners to increase the bus fares irrespective of repeated warnings by the government.
The Leader of the House, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, raised a question regarding a statement purported to have been made by Minister Athulathmudali.
Mr. Wickramanayake said Ms. Athulathmudali had allegedly made a statement to the effect that she was helpless if the bus owners increased the fares since it was a devolved subject, and that the government should take a decision on the matter. The Leader of the House asked the Minister as to why she made such a statement when the government had taken a stand on the matter.
Ms. Athulathmudali denied that she made such a statement.
Minister Mangala Samaraweera asked Ms. Athulathmudali as to why she was not sending a contradiction to the newspaper concerned if she did not make such a statement.
But Ms. Athulathmudali was firm that she did not make such a statement.
At this stage Minister S.B. Dissanayake charged that the campaign to increase bus fares was pushed by the DUNLF in the provinces.
Mr. Dissanayake named some of the DUNLFers who were behind this campaign as Ruben Silva, Ranjith Fernando and a Pathirage. Minister Athulathmudali said they might have been DUNLFers earlier but now they had joined the UNP.
Subsequent to this some ministers tried to trace the statement purported to have been made by Ms. Athulathmudali to the newspapers, but they could not.
But the DUNLFers think that the attack on Minister Athulathmudali on the bus fare hike was an orchestrated one to undermine her.
The communique issued by the government on Monday directly rejected a proposal made by Ms. Athulathmudali to the government to increase bus fares.
The government statement said:
The Ministry of Transport proposed to the government on two occasions in December 1995 and in January 1996 a 35% increase in bus fares and that Treasury subsidies should be limited to the operation of uneconomical routes and to the school season ticket schemes provided by the peoplised bus companies.
"On both occasions the Cabinet disagreed with this proposal and decided on January 3, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance should instead formulate a system to reduce the losses of the peoplised bus companies and look into the problems of the private bus owners."
The government whilst obviously cornering Ms. Athulathmudali on the bus fare issue, is trying to rope her in to present the proposed devolution package as a set of proposals emanating from all the parties of the People's Alliance.
Ms. Athulathmudali during last week met two emissaries sent by the government in this connection.
They were Minister Bernard Soysa and Communist Party stalwart K.P. de Silva to persuade her to agree to the present set of proposals.
But it appears to be a tough job to convince Minister Athulathmudali to agree with certain provisions of the package.
The sore point as the DUNLF sees it is the inclusion of the "Union of Regions" to replace the unitary nature of the country.
This week's meeting of Ministers ended early since the President was indisposed. But Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike raised the Tawakkal issue involving the Puttlam Cement Company.
She said the allegations on this issue demanded an indepth investigation.
"We must find the culprits and punish them even if they were in the Cabinet," she emphasised.
Minister C.V. Gooneratne said the whole issue had left a scar on the good name of the government. He supported the Prime Minister's call for a full probe.
Similar observations were made by Ministers Anuruddha Ratwatte and Richard Pathirana.
When most of the Ministers, including Nimal Siripala de Silva the Minister in charge of the subject were expressing their views about the matter Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said all this was based on reports in newspapers and the veracity of these reports should be checked first.
He said it was also important to find the "reporter" who leaked this story to the newspaper.
Was Minister Rajapakse hinting at any other Minister when he said that? Minister Rajapakse was recently accused by the President of leaking information to newspapers. She called him the reporter. So Minister Rajapakse has apparently made use of this opportunity to take sweet revenge. But others think that it was an indirect hit at Minister G.L. Pereis.
Not only him even the Opposition politicians were busy spreading this story expecting an unusual political development within the government circles.
But people in the know dismissed the story that Minister Pereis was at the bottom of this episode.
They thought it was an effort to put Minister Kadiragamar against Minister Pereis.
Simultaneously it appeared that President Kumaratunga had responded to the deadline put forward by two key officials who offered to resign unless the President intervened to clear their names in the Tawakkal affair.
The two officials, PERC Chairman Rajan Asirwathan and SEC Director General Arittha Wickramanayake, offered their resignations on the strength of a letter written by Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who alleged that there had been shady dealings involving a Cabinet Minister and an official in the Tawakkal matter.
The President had apparently felt that the matter had been blown out of proportion.
Accordingly, the President acted swiftly to defuse the situation. She sent extracts of a letter written to her by Mr. Kadirgamar to Mr. Wickramanayake.
This letter dated February 22 written subsequent to the original letter where he alleged that there could have been some sort of fraud involved in the Tawakkal issue was received by the President on the 23rd.
Minister Kadirgamar left for Abu Dhabi soon after this but did not forget to send a hand written note to Mr. Asirwathan stating that he had not made any allegation against him. Attached to this note was a copy of the second letter addressed to the President, which defused the whole issue.
Amidst all the hassle in the government, President Kumaratunga moved in to settle Deputy Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle's problem the previous week.
Though Mr. Fernandopulle sent a letter offering his resignation if the government failed to transfer Senior Superintendent of Police Nimal Fernando from Negombo, the President did not take serious note of it.
Several Ministers intervened on Mr. Fernandopulle's behalf and asked the President whether she wished to settle the matter by transferring the SSP.
Initially, the President was adamant and said "nothing doing" but later sent a reply to the Deputy Minister saying she would like to talk to him. But at the same time she expressed the view that the Deputy Minister was free to do whatever he felt when it came to his resignation.
The President was a few minutes late to meet the Deputy Minister when he arrived at Temple Trees.
As the President walked into the meeting place she acknowledged the presence of Deputy Minister Fernandopulle. But even before discussing the grievances with the vociferous Deputy Minister, she got one of her Personal Assistants to get IGP Rajaguru on line and directed him to transfer S.S.P. Nimal Fernando from Negombo.
Soon after that the President asked Mr. Fernandopulle whether he had any further grievances and talked to him for some time to sort out matters with the Deputy Minister.
President Kumaratunga, apart from resolving disputes within her party, considered a proposal by Minister S.B. Dissanayake to invalidate the findings of the Special Presidential Commission which had recommended in 1980 that Sirima Bandarnaike be stripped of her civic rights.
The government will go on the basis that an error made by Parliament could only be rectified by Parliament.
Accordingly, a special bill will be presented in Parliament and the government will debate the matter for three days, beginning April 18, a day after her 80th birthday. It would be interesting to see how Anura Bandaranaike, and the UNP would react to this.
The pertinent question is, could the UNP support this move and let down the first Executive President J.R. Jayewardene or oppose it and put Mr. Bandaranaike in an awkward position?
In any case it would be difficult for Mr. Bandaranaike to oppose such a move hence the only way to avoid such a situation, is by making him not available for the debate.
The government will not stop at that but will honour Ms. Bandaranaike in many other ways when she reaches her 80th birthday. Some 300 eminent personalities will be awarded "Vishva Prasadini" by the government to mark this occasion.
The SLFP Central Committee will also meet soon to discuss plans to felicitate the Prime Minister. It will also discuss an issue whether they would allow some provincial council members to continue as directors of state institutions.
The matter came up on several occasions after Minister Richard Pathirana pointed out that it would not be proper for them to hold directorates while being members of an elected body.
The Central Committee decided earlier that they should resign forthwith and party General Secretary Dharmasiri Senanayake wrote to the persons concerned to resign. When they refused to resign, the matter came up once again before the Central Committee and it was decided that the relevant Ministers should remove them.
At a Central Committee meeting held recenlty, Minister D.M. Jayaratne expressed the view that the people who were holding these positions were ardent supporters of the party and they should be allowed to continue.
At this stage General Secretary Dharmasiri Senanayake said they should be given three months to resign.
Minister S.B. Dissanayake who remained silent throughout the proceedings said he wanted the Secretary to note down that this Central Committee has no back bone to stand by a decision. The Minister told the General Secretary, "I want this included in the minutes of the meeting."
Though the General Secretary noted down all that, the issue remains unresolved.
Problems are common to any political party be it the SLFP or the UNP. The recent meeting of the Working Committee of UNP's Ratnapura district organisation took place in a volatile atmosphere.
Ratnapura's Mayor Mahinda Ratnatilleke made some references to a telephone conversation he had with Ratnapura district Parliamentarian Nanda Mathew.
Mr. Mathew had apparently telephoned Mr. Ratnatilleke to express his displeasure over Mr. Ratnatilleke's alleged move to introduce one Abeynaike ("Kiri Malli") from Embilipitiya to the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe during the latter's visit to Pelmadulla in the Ratnapura district recently.
Mr. Mathew feels the intention behind the whole exercise is to appoint Abeynaike as an organiser for Kollone which at present is represented by Mr. Mathew.
Mr. Mathew during his telephone conversation with the former Mayor has told him that he would move within the party to appoint Dr. Wimal Wickramasinghe as the party organiser for Eheliyagoda.
Mr. Ratnatilleke who was an ardent supporter of Anura Bandaranaike crossed over to the UNP during the latter stage of the D.B. Wijetunga regime. He was later appointed as organiser Eheliyagoda when Dr. Wimal Wickramasinghe lost the election in 1994.
When Mr. Ratnatilleke referred to the telephone conversation during the Working Committee meeting Mr. Mathew said that Dr. Wickramasinghe is the most suitable person for Eheliyagoda.
Outspoken Dr. Wickramasinghe was recently moved out from the UNP Working Committee and appointed as advisor who could participate in Working Committee meetings sans voting rights.
Dr. Wickramasinghe's subsequent protests and outbursts criticising the leadership had further pushed him to a situation where he earned the wrath of the party leadership.
The net result of all these was that he and former Minister Indradasa Hettiarachchi was not invited to the Working Committee for which the other members who were moved out had been invited.
When Mr. Mathew referred to Dr. Wickramasinghe's ability to be the chief UNP organiser for Eheliyagoda, Mr. Ratnatilleke denied that he had any intention of introducing Abeynaike (Kirimalli) to the UNP leader, in order to cause problems for Mr. Mathew.
But Mr. Mathew continued firing salvos, he referred to an occasion where Susantha Punchinilame Secretary of the Ratnapura district organisation took Mr. Anura Bandaranaike to a tour around the Uda Walawe National Park. He recalled how Mr. Punchinilame went to a wayside kiosk while Mr. Bandaranaike remained in the vehicle.
Mr. Mathew said that it was not the way that one should treat a person like Mr. Bandaranaike who is held in high esteem by the people.
When the district Working Committee discussed matters relating to the appointment of two more organisers for the district, Mr. Mathew argued and said there should be an accepted procedure to do all these things and should not take adhoc decisions.
Chairman of the Ratnapura district UNP organisation A.A. Wijetunge who became restless after Mr. Mathew came out with a scathing attack on some members quoting a newspaper report said, the UNP should not have had any negotiations with the sacked members of the Working Committee.
Quoting the same newspaper he said that the leader did not have enough courage to stand by his decision which angered the General Secretary of the party Gamini Atukorale who was present at the meeting. Mr. Atukorale said the Chairman should have been careful since what he said could have been misconstrued. Mr. Atukorale said that in any event he should not refer to the leader in a manner which is detrimental to his position.
After a long drawn argument as to how the district Working Committee should increase the number of organisers to Ratnapura the meeting ended without any finality.
Apart from squabbles at all levels the main challenge UNP is facing today is how it should respond to the government's political package.
The Indian element has also given a headache to the UNP leadership but at the moment the UNP is unable to get a correct assessment as to how serious the Indians were in getting the political package passed through Parliament.
During the previous week's group meeting a sizeable number of the UNP Parliamentarians criticized the package, but another fair number remained silent.
Kandy district MP, Sarath Amunugama who is now attending a conference on "Conflict in Sri Lanka and International Response" in Norway suggested that somebody else should take ex-UNP Chairman Mr. A.C.S. Hameed's place on the Select Committee on Constitutional Reforms since he is ill. But it was certainly a surprise to those who know the functioning of this Committee.
In the Constitutional Reforms Committee the UNP is represented by leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Wijepala Mendis, K.N. Choksy, Tyronne Fernando and A.C.S. Hameed.
Mr. Hameed's experience in this field appears to be exceptional with no Parliamentarian presently having gone through the issues on devolution and power sharing to that extent.
Besides having chaired the All Party Conference Mr. Hameed had held extensive discussions with TULF and LTTE and played a constructive role in the deliberations of the Mangala Munasinghe Select Committee.
The bitter struggle between Mr. Hameed and Mr. Amunugama was quite obvious during the general election of 1994, and there is no love lost between the two.
Mr. Hameed however was not present at the last UNP group meeting since he was out in Stockholm attending a non governmental meeting. In the circumstances it would be interesting to note Mr. Hameed's reaction to Mr. Amunugama's suggestion. Some feel that the Ex-Chairman of the UNP would seize the opportunity and opt out leaving a vacuum in the Constitutional Reforms Committee.
The Committee will discuss the official draft of the government's devolution package from the March 7.
Presently Tamil parties are in consultation with all the political parties to discuss the issues involved including the unit of devolution.
Left parties who discussed the issues with five Tamil party alliance have told them not to harp too much publicly on the unit of devolution. On other issues such as Buddhism and law and order. The left parties were in general agreement with the Tamils.
The meeting EPDP leader Douglas Devananda had with President Kumaratunga recently bears some significance since the President had in principle agreed with Mr. Devananda's proposal to set up an interim administration for the North East.
Though the EPDP was advocating such a council for a long time the government has been reluctant to agree to such a move even on principle. Hence the meeting Mr. Devananda had with President Kumaratunga has brought some positive results and it is be expected that something significant would emerge from the forthcoming discussions between the two.
But the main problem today is to convince the UNP to support the package. The UNP is apparently hanging on to the Mangala Munasinghe Committee report which was rejected by all Tamil parties and Minister Thondaman was its vehement critic. Therefore, Minister Thondaman is most likely to remain within the government and support the package, while there are no signs of SLMC shifting its stance.
In the circumstances if the UNP stands firmly by the Munasinghe Report the Select Committee may have a short run and pack up very much ahead of schedule.
Whatever the fate of the package maybe President Kumaratunga can seek consolation that she has something to gain.
If she steers through the package, certainly she would have become a legend in Sri Lankan politics. Even if she should fail her standing would soar internationally for her commitment towards finding a peaceful solution.
Thus the UNP leader faces a crucial test but its batallion needs to set its act together and speak with one voice. Petty differences and cliqueism needs to be laid to rest, to present a united front in the difficult times ahead for the parties and the country as a whole.