MS offers olive branch to dissidents, rules out one-on-one with MR

* Way cleared for former prez to join general election fray
* SLFP prepares electoral reforms, consulting polls chief 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-April 12, 2015, 8:07 pm 

President Maithripala Sirisena has offered to meet his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as dissenting SLFP parliamentarians shortly to iron out differences, according to SLFP sources.

President Sirisena has said the issues should be discussed among members of the parliamentary group with the participation of the former SLFP leader. The President was responding to a request by MP Kumar Welgama and MP T. B. Ekanayake for one-on-one between Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa.

SLFP sources said that President Maithripala Sirisena had explained that current contentious issues couldn’t be resolved through him having secret talks with his predecessor. The President had called for an open dialogue, sources said.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to hand over SLFP leadership to his successor at a special meeting at Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa’s official residence close to midnight on Jan. 14.However, President Maithripala Sirisena had told the former President’s emissaries that their request that Mahinda Rajapaksa be named the SLFP-led UPFA’s prime ministerial candidate at the forthcoming parliamentary poll was not acceptable, sources said.

President Maithripala Sirisena assured Welgama and Ekanayake that he wouldn’t object to the former President joining the parliamentary election fray from any district, according to sources.

Asked whether President Maithripala Sirisena anticipated any challenge to his leadership, SLFP sources said that the President was keen to resolve squabbling within the party ahead of the presentation of the 19 Amendment to Parliament within a week after Sinhala and Tamil New Year. A committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena was preparing electoral reforms in consultations with Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to prepare a set of proposals during the next several days.

The committee comprises Prof. G. L. Peiris, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Dilan Perera, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva.

President Maithripala Sirisena declared that parliament would be dissolved soon after the passage of the 19 Amendment.

An MP involved in ongoing deliberations said the proposal envisaged increasing the number of members of parliament to 250 from 225. According to him, their effort was to replace the existing proportional representation system with a combination of first-past-the-post system with limited PR.

Asked whether the SLFP would endorse the 19 Amendment, the MP said that the party felt that it could throw its weight behind proposed Amendment as a move to transfer executive powers to the Prime Minsiter had been abandoned.