From the Blue Corner

UNP's Wayamba plans pop off

By Paakshikaya

My unseen but now familiar friend, Viruddha Paakshikaya reappeared last week, just when I thought he had fled the land and gone into some kind of self-imposed exile, like so many of his party colleagues.

Of course, Viruddha Paakshikaya had a ready-made excuse claiming he was hospitalised for suspected cholera and, in typical UNP style, makes the story absurd by blaming our Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva for his illness.

But Viruddha Paakshikaya, isn't there a connection between a running stomach and running scared? Was it all because, despite all the bravado on public platforms and in parliament about facing elections - now you must really do so. Our conclusion was that with the announcement of provincial elections for Wayamba, Viruddha Paakshikaya, fell sick! Why, we heard that earlier even Anura Bandaranaike fell ill?

Anyway, Viruddha Paakshikaya's stay in hospital seems to have done something to his spirit as well. Perhaps he got not only some B-12 vitamins to rev him up but also some stimulants to come fighting from his bed and write about fighting us at Wayamba.

But hardly had the ink dried from the newspaper, his party's goondas ran amok at Puttalam on the day they handed over nomination papers. They smashed Her Excellency's photograph. Why? Is it because they cannot bear to see Chandrika Kumaratunga as President?

Last Sunday's Lankadeepa ran a front page story referring to the arms stock-piled in the North Western Province from the days of the ''Beeshana Samaya'' — in the era of terror unleashed by ''unidentified'' gangs backed by the Police who swooped and preyed on our supporters on the pretext of cracking down on the JVP.

Is it only a coincidence then, that Viruddha Paakshikaya last week talked of the ''battlefields'' of Wayamba? Was it premonition or a slip of the tongue that gave away the hidden plans of the UNP?

Viruddha Paakshikaya, talks of the ''War at Wayamba''. They seem to be very keen on drawing first blood. We know that the UNP will do its darnest to escalate violence because what it knows best is how to do electioneering in an atmosphere of violence.

And, we also know the game plan, Viruddha Paakshikaya: to escalate violence to a point that will force the government to postpone the day of the polls purely to bring about law and order. Then, the UNP scores twice over; it does not get defeated at the elections; it could also blame the PA for postponing the polls and claim that we were afraid of defeat.

Your tactics are obvious already. Viruddha Paakshikaya, I must indeed congratulate the UNP for its brand of transparency. If the violence is not sufficient to postpone the elections and polling is inevitable, be ready with your campaign anyway — to tell the people who are happy with the PA that ''this election will not topple the government; it will serve only to push the government a little more towards helping the people".

Bravo, Viruddha Paakshikaya, bravo. I must confess I sure under-estimated the ''brains'' at ''Sirikotha'' — or is it Cambridge Terrace? Not only are these brains relying on the brawn of their pawns, they even have an escape route. The defeatist line the UNP is already adopting is to tell the people that this government is 'OK', but let us have a provincial government, so that it could teach the PA a jolly good lesson — a jolly good joke indeed!

We are a responsible government, Viruddha Paakshikaya. We do not support violence. To have a peaceful election, we have already made some changes in the Police administration in the area — so that you cannot accuse us of being party to any underhand electioneering.

To prove my point, I will like to cite one example, Viruddha Paakshikaya. DIG North Western Range P.K.C. Perera has been transferred out and DIG Ranawana has been sent to replace him.

You may make your own inquiries, Viruddha Paakshikaya, and if you do so you will find out that DIG Ranawana is a good friend of your chief ministerial candidate Gamini Jayawickrema Perera.

Of course, I readily admit that PA high-ups were not aware of this when Mr. Ranawana was sent there but then, that again proves my point, doesn't it? It just proves that we as a government do not interfere with police transfers. And, in the same breath I dare say that had it been the days of the UNP regime, the DIG would have got marching orders when it transpired that he was a friend of the main opposition candidate.

Then, take your polls strategy, Viruddha Paakshikaya. The UNP had to pull out two of its senior most MPs from Kurunegala and Puttalam — Jayawickrema Perera and Asoka Wadigamangawa respectively — to fight the PA.

Mr. Jayawickrema Perera apart from being a first eleven cricket captain at Nalanda Vidyalaya, we best know him for being a Cabinet Minister for 24 hours under President D.B. Wijetunga. He must have been so shocked at what he did the day before that the very next day he dissolved the entire Parliament, went to the polls and lost.

Mr. Wadigamangawa resigned his seat in Parliament after 18 years to contest this election. A noble deed, certainly considering the fact that even if the UNP wins he will only be a provincial councillor whereas Mr. Jayawickrema Perera gets the chief ministership.

To me, Viruddha Paakshikaya, it shows how the UNP has been sleeping all this time and been unable to groom provincial level politicians. But, it does also show that the UNP takes our challenge very, very seriously. (We got only S.B. Navinna to resign from Parliament and that too because he had been chief minister and is sure of being chief minister again).

We in the PA did not have to ask our other MPs to resign because we don't need to. We know the people are with us, because we have been with them, without killing them.

Now, Viruddha Paakshikaya, I also heard the UNP is to have its annual convention at Kataragama, on Thursday. But I wonder whether even with the help of God Kataragama, the UNP will be able to ever come back to power. For the power of the people is even more powerful than the deities. And anyway, God Kataragama knows the difference between right and evil.

And, talking of gods, the UNP seems to be relying more and more on the supernatural — on gods and godmen. That is probably why Anura Bandaranaike has gone, again, we hear, to see Satya Sri Sai Baba either at Putrapathi or at Whitefields.

I suspect all this is because the UNP now knows that not only has it been idle for four years but that it cannot find any way to break into the hearts and minds of the masses who are with a people's president, a caring president and a president who spends every moment of her day looking into the needs of the people she governs.

So, they are faced with a very frightening prospect: a charismatic leader with an enviable work record on one hand and, on the other hand, their own leader acquiring a hitherto unsurpassed reputation for weak leadership, vacillation, inaction and lethargy.

This was evident when the UNP leader toured the south recently. With the possible exception of Hakmana, all the other meetings had been a flop. The biggest flop, you must be knowing, Viruddha Paakshikaya, was at Hambantota where the great Premadasa's only son is the chief organiser. Even Sirisena Cooray — his new friend — had been unable to transport enough people for the meeting to help the young Premadasa. (of course, Viruddha Paakshikaya, some in your own party say the 'flop' was engineered by Cooray just to teach Ranil Wickremesinghe a lesson.)

No wonder, then, that the UNP will be offering pooja to God Kataragama and seeking his divine blessings. But as I already said, even divine intervention maybe just not enough to save the dis-United non-National Party.

But then, even as far as ''party''s go they can't get it right. They bring cabaret dancers from Brazil for the Lankan yakkos in tuxedos and bow-ties to ogle at. The finest of dinners are served in the best traditions of wine, women and song, all in the name of fun(d) raising. And now there is a talk of a cheque that bounced.

That serves you and your party right, Viruddha Paakshikaya. But the irony is that though the cheque may bounce back, the UNP never will!

Greens beat the Blues in House at Diyawanna

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti, our Lobby Correspondent

There was high drama in Parliament on Friday when a Livestock Ministry vote was defeated. A jubilant UNP defeated a vote by Livestock Development Ministry seeking to allocate Rs. 150 million for livestock and infrastructure development when an amendment by Susil Moonesinghe was not accommodated by the chair.

The UNP beat the ruling PA, 34-17 as in a rugby football match, and PA members went into hiding soon afterwards.

The debate which began without any sparks flying, continued uninterrupted. Then just 10 minutes before conclusion, Mr. Moonesinghe precipitately moved the amendment stressing such a step should be undertaken only by a Cabinet Appointed Tender Board(CATB).

Arguments soon broke out with UNP's Tyronne Fernando mooting the amendment be accepted, and an equally stubborn Minister Thondaman refusing. Deputy Chairman of Committees Rauff Hakeem first insisted the minister had not been given sufficient notice, but then went for a vote where the Ministry's vote under Head 510 was defeated. However the House approved expenditure under Head 512.

Such a situation had not happened before except when a Buddhasasana bill was defeated during the previous regime.

The government attendance was an all time low with just 12 members, with the notable absentee being Minister Thondaman's grandson Arumugam Thondaman.

The Friday drama apart, the highlight of the week was the resignation of three Parliamentarians Jayawickreme Perera, S.B. Nawinna and Asoka Wadigamangawa to contest the upcoming PC polls.

Despite high expectations, Tuesday's debate on the defence vote and the extension of the emergency was an absolute bore with the Opposition UNP failing to make a clear case of the Oddusudan incident culminating in a lacklustre debate.

Riding his hobby horse was UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale who lambasted the government on alleged corruption.

"The PA true to its amnesiac nature has conveniently forgotten its own efforts to thwart peace initiatives by sponsoring communal riots when the Indo- Lanka Accord was signed. The war has devoured the entire country with the PA's failed military strategies"he thundered while government benches sat in smug silence.

" The master of deadlines has stopped giving anymore deadlines but has now resorted to giving percentages. Do you still maintain that 96 % of the war is over " he demanded, and Minister Ratwatte gently nodded. Mr. Atukorale pulling a few punches at the Minister said he liked the Minister as a person but not in his official capacity .Mr. Ratwatte quickly threw back "Are you gay?" and pat came the reply- No, but the PA had enough cabinet members who were !

UNP's Mano Wijeratne challenged that although according to the Defence Ministry's official report Oddusudan was under government control the Minister himself was nearly killed. Saying this incident was another theatrical performance by the Minister he challenged the PA to fight the UNP at the Wayamba elections if it dared.

Speaking in his usual reflective manner was TULF's R.Sampanthan who expressed disgust that politicians on both sides of the divide concentrated on trading insults and politicking, what with elections only a month away, though their country which deserved more was actually burning.

"How is it that people do not care Sir and carry on regardless? If the war ends, emergency was not needed and war should actually be the last resort when every other mode has failed" he said, propping himself by placing his right foot on the chair next to him.

As he exhaustively listed atrocities committed against Tamils, an angry UNP backbencher Susil Moonesinghe shouted back in defiance- "why not speak of LTTE's atrocities, about brother killing brother- about slain Jaffna Mayors. You speak only with international politics in mind".

Next was PA's H.M. Weerasinghe who urged all communities to come together in a spirit of unity to resolve the festering ethnic conflict and to foster a new political culture.

Openly holding a brief for the PA, the Digamadulla member said it was unfair to criticise a brave minister for daring to visit Oddusudan despite all odds.

"He is a courageous officer. Why blame him for being there to cheer the valiant troops. Those who criticise conduct operations from their air conditioned rooms. They condemned youths to tyre pyres and confined soldiers to barracks," he charged.

UNP's Tilak Karunaratne was next firing his salvos, insinuating that Jaya Sikurui was halted by the powers that be without the knowledge of the Deputy Minister. The Minister was also unaware about the launching of Edi Bala. But if he desired to commit suicide, there were better and more convenient places than Oddusudan, he quipped.

Gently censuring the defence minister for taking undue risks with his life was fisheries Minister Mahinda Rajapakse who laboured the point that political leaders must encourage troops.

On the other hand UNP's John Amaratunge prayed that the minister would not come to any harm as only his presence and conduct of the war would ensure the UNP of speedy political victory.

In his concluding remarks, Minister Ratwatte gently hit out at the UNP.

"You collect documents from Prabhakaran's own informants and quote them to me with fanfare. But the country knows how the UNP prosecuted war and that is why they voted the PA in."

He noted that each time the LTTE's military might was reduced, it resorted to a trick that was old- and fake. It pushed for talks and silently and secretively regrouped. The UNP wanted to push the government to a situation the UNP itself had been in before, he said- pledging that talks would be held when the government decided to- and not when a militarily weakened LTTE and a disgruntled Opposition pushed them.

More News/Comments  *  The Sunday Times speaks to the PA and UNP Chief Ministerial candidates for Wayamba   

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