Main political parties split as Presidential election nears

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON- Jul 07 2019

A group of senior political figures in Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) gathered at the official residence of Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa at Wijerama Mawatha last week to have a serious discussion on going ahead with proper plans to intensify their organising at electoral level aiming any impending election.

Gampaha District Parliamentarian Prasanna Ranatunga who was completely dedicated to getting his team fully engaged in election campaigning over the past few weeks, revealed to Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa that he reliably learnt of Provincial Council Elections being held before the Presidential Election. This information was confirmed by Rajapaksa who said; “I also heard something to the effect.”

It is in the midst of this that a group of SLPP Parliamentarians, led by MP Prasanna Ranatunga, visited Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Singapore on Wednesday (3) where he continues to recover after undergoing bypass surgery.

Former Defence Secretary Rajapaksa has said that he will be returning to the country soon to commit himself fulltime towards fulfilling the aspirations of the masses here.

He had reiterated that under no circumstance will he take a backward step in his efforts to serve the people, while emphasising that he was also prepared to face up to any challenge placed before him on behalf of his countrymen.

Among other SLPP MPs who had accompanied MP Ranatunga to Singapore were Thenuka Vidanagamage, Priyankara Jayaratna, Prasanna Ranaweera and Indika Anuruddha.

 When the MPs had visited Rajapaksa, they had also been joined by United People’s Freedom Alliance MP Keheliya Rambukwella.

During the visit, Rajapaksa had insisted that he was recuperating well following his operation and the Foreign Minister of Singapore had also looked into his wellbeing.

Later, MP Ranatunga had briefed Rajapaksa on arrangements to be put in place by the SLPP for upcoming Presidential Polls.

The MP had informed Rajapaksa that Presidential Election operation committees had been set up at the District level under the leadership of former Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Welgama departs

Meanwhile, UPFA Parliamentarian Kumar Welgama who left the Rajapaksa camp recently due to increasing differences, held a meeting on Friday (5) with a group of UPFA Parliament and Local Government level leaders who are known to be in the anti-Rajapaksa camp at a house in Rosmead Place where he was frequently seen.

Welgama who was removed from SLPP Badulla District Organiser’s post said that he would leave all nominal posts of SLPP as he is opposed to Gotabaya Rajapaksa being put forward as the party's presidential candidate.

He in fact believes that he has a good chance of running for Presidential Election.

He also said that he is a member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and has not officially received a membership from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

He said, “I am against Gotabaya Rajapaksa contesting. There is a possibility of me coming forward to help Chamal Rajapaksa or any other candidate put forward by the SLPP but not Gota.”

He said he would work to strengthen the SLFP after reuniting all the loyal members of the party in the future.

Confusion on agreement

UPFA General Secretary and Parliamentarian Mahinda Amaraweera told media that an agreement has been reached on the name of a possible new alliance to be formed shortly between the SLFP and the SLPP.

The new alliance will be known as ‘Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Peramuna’ (SLNPP).

He said if the SLFP and SLPP decide to contest the Polls together, they would contest under the new name.

Amaraweera said the SLPP had sent them a 25-point proposal and one was the name for the new alliance.

“We are holding extensive discussions where a number of issues will be dealt with at length. We also need to agree on a symbol for this alliance and the portfolios that have to be distributed equally among the two Parties,” said Amaraweera.

When asked whether there was a candidate to contest the future Presidential Poll, he noted that the SLFP was keen to put forward a single candidate to contest the election in agreement with the SLPP.

When asked about the fate of the SLFP if the alliance fails to get off the ground, he said they will still continue to engage in Party politics and vowed that the Party will not be allowed to wither away.

Amaraweera also said the SLFP had no issue if the SLPP nominated either former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa or MP Chamal Rajapaksa to contest the next Presidential Poll.

However, he was quick to add that the alliance with the SLPP will happen only if SLFP aspirations were met and said they will not be the ‘tail’ of another political Party.

Amaraweera added that they hope to present amendments and ideas to the proposals within a week to the SLPP.

He also warned that if either Party fails to agree on forming an alliance and decides to go it alone at any future Poll, it will only pave the way for the United National Front to regain power.

However, the SLPP on Friday denied that the party has reached an agreement with the SLFP on the name of the new alliance if both parties decide to contest an upcoming election together.

SLPP member MP Shehan Semasinghe says that no such agreement has been reached.

Speaking at a press briefing, the Parliamentarian said that he even spoke to MP Dullas Alahapperuma earlier in the day and inquired whether any such decision was taken.

“Clearly the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna have so far not agreed on forming an alliance and contesting elections or to contest as the ‘Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Peramuna’,” he said.

The MP said that the UPFA General Secretary may have talked about the alliance he expects as Amaraweera truly wants to unite the two groups.

Semasinghe said that so far the two Parties have discussed regarding 25 points and as to how the agreements must happen, but no such final decision has been reached.

UNP divided

With heat of Presidential Election nearing the United National Party that came together shedding all their differences with current leadership following 26 October 2018 Constitutional coup, seems to be shattering once again.

There are clearly three groups visible within UNP, one that is loyal to its Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe another that wants its Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa to be the presidential candidate and the third being led by Minister Ravi Karunanayake who is basically opposing Premadasa’s candidacy.

The real shocker may be the stance taken by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera who is otherwise known as loyal to PM Wickremesinghe.

He said all UNP leaders, including Ranil Wickremesinghe and Karu Jayasuriya should come together and agree to make Sajith Premadasa the next President of Sri Lanka.

In a video shared on twitter, Minister Samaraweera said they were waiting to get a UNP President at the next presidential election. In order to achieve this, he said the candidate should come from the UNP and he should have the capacity to win.

“In this scenario, I think it is Sajith Premadasa, who has that popularity and talent. This doesn’t mean we want to discard the current leader. Regardless of the opponent candidate or which Rajapaksa comes from the musical chairs they have in their family, we know how to make Premadasa win,” he said.

In this endeavour, he said, they should be able to carry forward the vision of Wickremesinghe and D.S. Senanayake.

“Because the UNP means, at a time other political parties of the country are leaning towards racism, a party which represents the centrist politics and democratic values. Especially at a time when regressive forces are coming together, we should promote the UNP as the only party which represents the opinion of the people of centrist politics. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s guidance is essential in this. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who is world renowned and all others should come together and agree to make Sajith Premadasa the President,” he said.

When asked by the interviewer whether Sri Lanka would make another mistake, Minister Samaraweera said, “Sri Lanka can’t afford to make another mistake. We won’t allow Sri Lanka to make a mistake.”

Minister Samaraweera’s statement that Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa will be the UNP’s candidate at the presidential election is a programme which the party is planning to launch in the future, Puttalam District MP Hector Appuharmy said.

 “Minister Samaraweera is talking about a programme which UNP is planning to launch in the future. First, he said, a UNPer should be fielded as the presidential candidate, he said it should be a person who is popular and can win the presidential election. Also the Minister said the candidate should have the blessing of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. UNP’s candidate will be chosen based on these criteria,” the MP added.

Referring to a statement made by Minister Ravi Karunanayake that the party’s candidate should be a person who had passed at least the GCE Ordinary Level Examination, the MP said Minister Premadasa holds a degree to his knowledge.

He said questions with regard to the UNP’s candidate for the next presidential elections would be resolved in a few weeks time.

It is in this backdrop that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had claimed during the pre-Cabinet briefing, that currently there are a few Cabinet Ministers who work according to the dictates of President Maithripala Sirisena, instead of doing so, according to the policies put forth by the Government and the United National Front (UNF).

The Premier had alleged that there were some Ministers who were going against the decisions taken by the Government, by him as Premier and by the UNF.

He charged that these Ministers were more content standing with the President, having shunned the Government and the UNF.

Sources said that under such circumstances, Wickremesinghe had questioned how the current regime could function for the remainder of its term.

Minister and Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella also said a few Ministers were on the sly throwing in their lot with the President to receive privileges and perks in a future regime headed by the latter.

Prez puts MCC on hold

President Maithripala Sirisena reiterates that no foreign agreement that is unsuitable for or would challenge the independence and sovereignty of the country will be signed during his tenure.

Addressing the ‘Rata Wenuwen Ekata Sitimu’ Programme held in Moneragala yesterday (6),he stated that controversies rooted in society about agreements such as SOFA,  Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)  and a Land Act will be taken into consideration, while ensuring that such agreements will not be signed if they would be detrimental to the country.

He further stated that eradication of the drug menace has become a national disaster as Politicians and officials have come forward to protect drug dealers and that this would in turn affect the lives of the future generation. He added that those who filed petitions against the death penalty, irrespective of their positions or forms, are the pawns of those drug kingpins. ‘’Politicians who assumed power in the past did not take actions against the drug dealers for their petty political gains. A considerable drawback can be seen in drug trafficking due to the stern actions taken against it,’’ he said.

He initially opposed the MCC when the Cabinet was convened last Tuesday.
Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Dr. Harsha de Silva took to twitter to say that the President would throw away a gift of USD 480 million believing the lies of the Opposition.

According to the Minister, the MCC agreement was developed by a Sri Lankan economists team along with Ricardo Haussmann, the Director of Harvard’s Center for International Development and his group to address constraints to the growth of Sri Lanka.

He says that the President should understand the constraints to Sri Lanka’s growth as it the basis of the MCC agreement.

Silva says that he finds it ‘unbelievable’ that persons who were not involved in the development of the agreement are dictating what the programme should be. He added that none of them, who were involved in the development process, were invited to the meeting with the President while the Opposition was.

According to the UNP Minister, the Secretary to the President had been asked to arrange a meeting for the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz and President Maithripala Sirisena to brief on the facts of the MCC. However, the President has not given her an appointment for the past 2 months, said Silva.
Stating that ‘fictional nonsense’ on MCC is being ‘sold to the masses as fact’; Silva affirms no land is given to the United States through the agreement.

 Minister Silva says that it is an ‘embarrassing tragedy’ that the President is throwing away the grant of USD 480 million by readily believing the lies of the Opposition.

Meanwhile, the Joint Opposition (JO) said they will file action in the Supreme Court opposing the signing of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement.

Parliamentarian Mahindananda Aluthgamage told a Media briefing at the Opposition Leader’s office on Wednesday (03) that the Government is attempting to approve Agreements that are unethical within 90 days.

Aluthgamage said the Government is working according to a plan called ‘90 days, fast track’. He added the JO will definitely take action regarding these Agreements which the Government is trying to get approval in Parliament.

“Apart from the Status of Forces Agreement, the Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement and the MCC, the Government will try to bring a Federal Constitution too, which can harm the country. Minister and Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella is trying to trade all the State Banks and lands,” he alleged.

According to the MCC coordinating office, Sri Lanka will obtain a grant of US $ 480 million under the biggest ever grant to be received by Sri Lanka to be disbursed over a five-year implementation time frame. The project will look into two projects; a land administration project and a transport development project.
After considering fresh applications made in December 2015, the MCC board of directors selected Sri Lanka for the threshold programme which is the lower programme of the two that is made available by MCC.

However, after reviewing the scorecard and observing continued improvements in performance as measured by the MCC scorecard, the country has been selected for the Compact programme.

According to reports, projects identified under the grant have been finalised after completing a rigorous due diligence process over a period of one-and-a-half years. It is expected that the projects will assist Sri Lanka to achieve its objective of strengthening transport infrastructure and land administration.

Under the land administration project, preparation of parcel fabric map and inventory of state land, improvements of deeds registry, improvements in the land valuation system, land grants registration and deed conversion activities and land policy and legal governance improvement activities will be implemented in Kegalle, Kandy, Matale, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee, along the identified Colombo-Trincomalee economic corridor, it was reported.

 BY GAGANI WEERAKOON

 02:00 AM Jul 07 2019