7th November 1999

With Thoras and Moras,what's cooking in UNP?

He suggests that only four ministers were aware of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's decision, implying thereby that there was a conspiracy within the government and that is why the President opted for discretion about the election announcement. It was a "ploy by a desperate lady, paranoid about those near and dear to her" was what Virudda Paakshikaya said.

Come, come, Virudda Paakshikaya, turn the searchlight inward will you? Which party is being rocked by crossovers? Which party leader is desperate now? Which party leader is paranoid about those near and dear to him now? Which party leader is faced with the prospect of his own party members campaigning for the rival candidate, because they are pleased by the prospect of a National Government? Which party leader is faced with a situation where one of his own party stalwarts – Susil Moonesinghe, to be precise - is also being wooed by an organisation to run for the presidency as its nominee?

And, in the midst of all this, Virudda Paakshikaya accuses me of presuming that President Kumaratunga has already won the election! Of course, she has, my friend and that is the conclusion that all right-thinking people have reached now and that is why there is such a rush to cross-over to the government side now: they know that it will be too late after the poll - the PA team will be 'House Full!'

But then, hope springs eternal in the UNPer's breast. Their last hope is the death of Ceylon Workers Congress Leader Saumyamoorthy Thondaman - as articulated in so many words by your own Anura Bandaranaike, the man with that remarkable pedigree. I am told by my sources that when news of Mr. Thondaman's death reached the 'Ops Room' at Cambridge Terrace, the advisors to your leader took out their calculators and began working furiously - trying to asses how many votes the CWC leader commanded and trying to figure how many of those votes you could lure back to the UNP. Such is your desperation.

But remember, Virudda Paakshikaya, voters in the plantations sector are no longer an illiterate lot who will blindly follow a figurehead. Now thanks largely to Thondaman, they are an educated and politically conscious force who can make their own decisions. Unfortunately for you, President Kumaratunga also knows this and that is why she has ensured that the Thondaman vote bank will remain with the PA at the next election by offering a portfolio to Arumugam Thondaman. So you can use your calculators and calculate Thondaman's block vote - and add them to the PA presidential candidate, President Kumaratunga!

But Virudda Paakshikaya, those are not the only people in your ranks who are busy with their calculators right now. There are others for whom the calculations are not about votes but about rupees and cents.

I believe The Sunday Times itself has had a whiff of the goings-on in the UNP for it did reveal in its first page last week that businessmen were doling out big bucks to the greens - just to insure themselves against any eventuality in the poll. And this is the party whose candidate prides himself as Mr. Clean of Sri Lankan politics! Tell me, Virudda Paakshikaya, how clean is your UNP when it is taking money from arms dealers? Is your party also happy - as these arms dealers undoubtedly are now, smacking their chops in anticipation with the fall of Nedunkerni? I can almost hear you reply, Virudda Paakshikaya that your 'Mr. Clean' tried to get rid of the party's corrupt elements and create a new image for the UNP.

Of course he did try to get rid of Wijeyapala Mendis - and succeeded at last it seems - but whom has he taken into the party? Haven't all the young 'Thoras' and 'Moras' got in by the back door when Wijeyapala Mendis left through the front door? And this is the 'new' UNP about which you rave so much, Virudda Paakshikaya! From what I hear, Virudda Paakshikaya, these young arms dealers have access not only to the 'Moras', they are also financing the 'Shadow cabinet' of the UNP - self appointed by these same 'Moras', of course! And in this 'Shadow Cabinet' are people whom even your leader may have reservations about. One of them, the son of a former educated and just Diyawadana Nilame is said to have gone to the extent of introducing himself to some British Conservative Party types as the "Defence Spokesman of the UNP." Former minister P. Dayaratne, please take note.

And that is the state of the UNP now, my friend. Those in the left do not know what those in the right are doing and arms dealers are sponsoring shadow cabinets - while in the centre of it all the honourable leader of the opposition is trying to run a presidential election campaign! And Virudda Paakshikaya yet believes that this hapless UNP candidate will win the election! His source of comfort is just a footnote in the Asiaweek magazine, which predicts that 'the odds may well be in Wickremesinghe's favour to be the next President of Sri Lanka".

Inside the glass house

Editorial/ Opinion Contents