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Sajith, Karu may patch up with Ranil
View(s):Moves seem to be afoot in the opposition United National Party (UNP) to thaw fractured relations between party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and his two erstwhile deputies Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya. President Mahinda Rajapaksa may have been instrumental in the exercise, because the UNP leaders need to get together in view of the upcoming provincial elections to the Northern, North-Western and Central Provinces. As one loyal UNP supporter was to say “our leaders have a choice — to drown separately or swim together”.
Both Premadasa and Jayasuriya have been involved in the process to short-list candidates for the elections. Meanwhile, the sulking Dayasiri Jayasekera (UNP MP for the Kurunegala district) has had a round of talks with his party leader Wickremesinghe and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake and all indications were that he would not leave the party despite the swirling rumours he was about to jump ship and become the Chief Ministerial candidate for the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
Even President Rajapaksa had said when someone asked him the question at the R.G. Senanayake road re-naming ceremony that the young lawyer-politician had not asked for UPFA nomination; but then, anything is possible in politics, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, the UNP has appointed former Speaker Joseph Michael-Perera, and former Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Ravi Karunanayake to co-ordinate the North-Western Province elections (Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts) campaign together with the four party MPs – Gamini Jayawickrama-Perera, Dayasirii Jayasekera, Akhila Kariyawasam and Niroshan Perera.
Azwer seeks groom for Thamilini
Members of the visiting European Union (EU) Parliamentary delegation visited Parliament on Friday. They met both government and opposition members and enjoyed a tea party.
Here, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran told Jean Lambert, the head of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with South Asia, that the election in the north would not be free and fair and it was the Army that was selecting candidates for the polls.
Overhearing this, UPFA National List MP A.H.M.Azwer was quick to intervene. “Not so, Madam,” he said explaining that the candidates were being picked by a nominations board of each party. He also said that Thamilini, the former LTTE women’s wing leader who was released from government rehabilitation recently had voiced her desire to get married and have children.
“If you have any prospective grooms, please direct them here,” Mr. Azwer quipped to the amusement of those present.
Lanka’s HR issue comes up again in US
The issue of human rights in Sri Lanka continues to resonate in the US capital of Washington. This week, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chief, Robert Menendez, referred to Sri Lanka during hearings of the appointment of Samantha Power as the new US Ambassador to the United Nations.
He said: “What may be happening on freedom of expression in Latin America; fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and polio in Africa; on the status of talks to resolve the 66 year long question of Cyprus; on women’s rights in Pakistan; labour rights in Bangladesh, and human rights in Sri Lanka.”
So, it seems, the long battle to convince the US on Sri Lanka’s human rights record is not yet over.
….and seat for Vijayakala Maheswaran
It was A.H.M. Azwer again to the rescue when the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) organised a ceremony to mark the re-naming of Gregory’s Road in Colombo as R.G. Senanayaka Mawatha last Wednesday. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who initiated the re-naming move, was present as the chief guest.
Among those who were invited was UNP Jaffna District MP Vijayakala Maheswaran. However, the lady Parliamentarian had been given a back seat which did not please some of her colleagues present. Mr. Azwer intervened and spoke to the organisers. She was moved to a front row seat thereafter.
President recalls Sirima’s thrashing after summit
External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris at a news conference on Monday declined to answer questions on the costs to be incurred by the Government for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Colombo in November. He said such questions were negative and he was unable to quantify.
However, at the regular weekly news briefing on Thursday, official Government spokesperson and Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella gave the figures.
A cabinet minister explained the reasons. At the weekly ministerial meeting last Thursday morning, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had told Minister Peiris “Giya sarey methiniya samuluwa thiyala anagaththa. Chandeth paraadai. Kerana deya parissameng karagana yanna. (The last time Madam held a summit and got into a mess. Even lost the elections. Whatever you do, do it carefully).”
He was alluding to the Non Aligned Movement’s summit held in Colombo in 1976 under the leadership of late Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
She called for parliamentary elections in mid 1977 and lost it, badly.
Let there be light in Hambantota
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa reminisced about his younger days at the opening ceremony of the Broadlands Hydro Power Plant.
There was no electricity at the Rajapaksa home in Medamulana in the remote Hambantota district. Many towns in the district didn’t have electricity. Kerosene lamps were commonly used in the homes.
However, there was one Petromax pressure lamp in their house, said the Minister. It was only lit when dignitaries were visiting their home. This was because the asbestos mantle that was used in these lamps regularly broke.
Not only walkers, but also sleep-talkers in UPFA
All this while we believed those in the Government were sleepwalking. It is now clear they have started talking in their sleep, declared JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti. The remarks came when a caller told him UPFA Parliamentarian Arundika Fernando had told court that Handunetti had mentioned to him that missing cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda was in Belgium.
Of course, Fernando has shifted from his public remarks earlier that Eknaligoda was living in Paris. This drew a blunt denial from the French Embassy in Colombo.
Mr. Handunetti was at a Central Committee meeting of the JVP when the call came on his mobile phone about Fernando’s latest submission on the missing Eknaligoda.
Former beauty queen quotes high prices for high-rise apartments
The one-time socialite who mingled quite a lot with politicos and businessmen alike, is now a promoter of a multi-million dollar high rise complex now in the news — for all the bad reasons.
On one of her promotional rounds, she urged a rich entrepreneur to invest in the project by purchasing an apartment. The cost, she said, would be Rs. 90 million based on a director’s discount.
“Let me see what I can do,” he told her and dodged the one-time beauty of an earlier era. The entrepreneur was later heard telling a friend “with the kind of money she is looking for, I could easily have purchased a house in London. That is in a part like Kensington and in any case in an area where there were not many immigrants.”
Keheliya bungles with billions
For Media Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella, these few weeks have been bad times. Then, this week he began getting his figures mixed up when he was briefing journalists after the weekly Cabinet meeting. The minister was asked what would be the estimated expenditure for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be hosted by Sri Lanka later in the year.
He said the expenditure would be around Rs. 50 to 60 billion surprising journalists. When he was questioned about it again he said the figure could be higher. But one of the journalists pointed out that the figure he has given was very high and initial media reports said the expenditure would be around Rs. 1.9 billion.
The minister corrected himself saying the estimated expenditure was around Rs. 1.9 billion. Later in the briefing he was asked about the expenditure for a road project and the minister said it could be Rs. 34 billion or Rs 3.4 billion.
The minister was questioned again and he said the figure was Rs. 34 billion. No doubt the value of the Sri Lanka rupee makes no sense nowadays, but bandying about vague figures like this goes to show what billions mean to ministers.
The politics of exercises in glass houses
The old cliché says that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. An improvement of that version was one that spoke of those living in glass houses should not undress.
Now comes a newer one – those who exercise in glass houses should not show themselves. At least that is the sum effect of a decision reached after a new, glass panelled modern gymnasium was opened at the Bogambara Stadium.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had planned to walk to the venue to declare it open. He was in fact in his track suit but the rains came down. Disappointed were Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and the Central Province’s former Chief Minister, Sarath Ekanayake. So were some of the personal security officers from the Presidential Security Division (PSD).
Rajapaksa was driven to the new gymnasium. “Mekey veeduru thibboth paarey yana minusunta penava. Ethakota rajaye sewakayo methanata awama minissu liyum aragena parey indiy, (People in the streets could see inside if there is glass here. So, if there are public servants here, people would line up in front of the building with letters),” President Rajapaksa told Minister Aluthgamage.
Responded the Sports Minister, that it was kept that way only for the opening ceremony. Thereafter, he said, they would be covered.
Well, that means those supporters of politicians who come with letters seeking favours from politicians would not see them. They will have to wait till their heroes come out fighting fit.
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