The Political Column

28th June 1998

UNP faces split on Mendis issue

Cabinet agrees on PC polls

By our Political Correspondent

The opposition United National Party is running into a major cri sis and a possible split involving the old brigade over the Wijeyapala Mendis issue.

Last week the UNP working committee after a long debate which lasted for nearly three hours decided to suspend the veteran Wijeyapala Mendis from the party.

Mr. Mendis had been found guilty by a Special Presidential Commission on charges of misuse of power in a land transaction

The UNP nearly one year after the commission report and much internal dissection of the subject, appointed a committee headed by General Secretary Gamini Atukorale to go into the matter.

After having considered the SPC report the committee summoned Mr. Mendis to give evidence and eventually submitted the report to the party's disciplinary committee with the recommendation to suspend Mr. Mendis from the party.

In the meantime Mr. Mendis brought his case to the court of appeal. But despite court action the working committee decided to suspend Mr. Mendis from the party.

Former minister A.C.S Hameed was the first to oppose action against Mr. Mendis when the matter was discussed at the disciplinary committee. He felt no action should be taken while the court case was pending. He walked out of the room where the disciplinary committee chaired by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was meeting.

Mr. Hameed claimed the Atukorale report had been prepared with the sole intention of expelling Mr. Mendis. However the meeting continued. Constitutional expert and former minister K.N Choksy said he felt the committee had recommended expulsion because Mr. Mendis had taken court action. He proposed suspension instead of expulsion.

The working committee meeting began thirty minutes late because, of traffic jams delaying the UNPers.

Prior to the working committee meeting, the party's disciplinary committee met chaired by party leader, Ranil Wickremesighe. Mr. Hameed clashed with Mr. Henry Jayamaha one of the members of the Atukorale committee on Wijeyapala Mendis. After a brief discussion the disciplinary committee decided to make its recommendations. It took Mr. Daya Pepola 10 months to draft the recommendations in his own handwriting

It was Henry Jayamaha who read out the hand written report of the disciplinary committee to the working committee and its recommendation to suspend Mr. Mendis from the party.

Former Attorney General Tilak Marapana rose to his feet soon after.

He said if the Atukorale committee had read the evidence given before the SPC it would have thrown the report out. With this bombshell being dropped by a person of the calibre of Mr. Marapana a string of speakers started firing salvos on the Atukorale committee findings.

Mr. Hameed said he wondered how the committee had looked into so many matters connected to the Mendis case in so short a time. He pointed out that the SPC had taken nearly one year to do it but the Atukorale committee had done it in a month. Frontliner Mr. Anura Bandaranaike also took a strong stand in defence of Mr. Mendis saying that a stalwart who served for fifty years should not be driven out of the party.

Mr. Hameed stepped in once again to ask what the UNP would do if the supreme court found Mr. Mendis not guilty.

Former deputy minister Dharmadasa Banda said 'the party could not have a dual policy on the same matter. You cannot oppose the motion before parliament and at the same time accept the findings of the SPC for your domestic purposes." He called upon the party to defer any decision on Mr. Mendis. Defending the disciplinary committee was party spokesman Karunasena Kodithuwakku. He said no one should sit in judgement on the decision of the disciplinary committee which was part of the working committee, and was shared by the leader himself. He called on the members to unanimously support the recommendation of the disciplinary committee.

Former minister John Amaratunga also said they should go by the findings of the disciplinary committee. He said the party should act according to the recommendation and not be deviated by other concerns.

But Stanley Kalpage hit back, saying the party was showing callous disregard towards Mr. Mendis. Nanda Mathew also defended Mr. Mendis warning the party hierarchy not to fall prey to the governments trap.

Mr. Wickremesinghe at this stage stepped into save the day for the UNP. He said he would meet the challenge of the government in the debate in parliament and that he had lined up the best speakers.

Mr. Hameed spoke out again. He said he had been a troubleshooter for the party and that he was responsible for the elevation of Mr. Wickremesinghe to the party leadership. In conclusion Mr. Mendis himself made an impassioned speech. "I have stood by this party for a long time and made all the sacrifices including my son".

Don't take away my self respect. Some people think that they are "saints" and look down upon me," he said.

Mr. Mendis also spoke about the support he had extended to the late Gamini Dissanayake, when he at been appointed leader of the UNP in 1994 . After Mr. Mendis speech, Mr. Wickremesinghe placed the motion before the working committee.

Dr. Stanley Kalpage voted against the motion, while former ministers A.C.S.Hameed, M.H. Mohamed , Festus Perea , Dharmadasa Banda, Nanda Mathew, A.M.S. Adikari and Susil Moonesinghe abstained.

It was quite evident that the old brigade stood by their colleague, while the new generation took a different stand.

Thereafter the working committee took up the report of a committee comprising Tyronne Fernando, Rohitha Bogollagama and Daya Palpola. This committee recommended that the party should vote against the motion in parliament to strip Mr. Mendis of his civic rights.

Over the weekend Mr. Mendis wrote to speaker K B Ratnayake, requesting him to put off the parliamentary debate on his civic rights in view of the court action filed by him. This matter was raised by minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle at the government group meeting on Monday.

He asked the President what they were going to do about it. President Kumaratunga, citing a precedent said that when Sirimavo Bandaranaike faced a similar situation in parliament the UNP went ahead with the debate despite court action filed by her.

In the meantime on Monday the supreme court by a 2-1 majority quashed the interim report of the SPC, on an application made by former treasury secretary R Paskaralingam.

When party leaders met in parliament on Tuesday, minister G.L.Peiris said that since the supreme court had struck off the interim report by a majority judgment it would not be possible to take up the resolution against Mr. Mendis in parliament.

He said that what applied to Mr. Paskaralingam should apply to Mr Mendis as well. The supreme court held that the SPC had not exercised its jurisdiction properly while releasing its interim report.

Speaker K .B Ratnayake also said that it would be unfair to debate the issue in view of the developments in courts.

The UNP's A.C.S Hameed after having listened to the views of the government agreed to put off the debate on Mr Mendis.

Soon after the party leaders meeting, Minister Peiris walked into the chamber of the Leader of the House Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to discuss briefly a message that the President wanted to be sent to Mr. Wickremesinghe.

Dr. Peiris called Mr. Wickremesinghe on his mobile phone to inform him the President was ready to accept his challenge for a Presidential election in November.

Speaking in Kandy and Hambantota the UNP leader had earlier challenged the President to hold a Presidential election before the end of November and saying that should she agree to that, the UNP would co-operate with the government in passing a law to postpone the Provincial Council elections by six months.

When Dr. Peiris told Mr. Wickremesinghe that the President had agreed to an early Presidential election, the UNP leader said that he would respond after returning to Colombo after meeting his Parliamentary group

The idea to hold an early Presidential election stemmed from a discussion the President had with Ministers S. B. Dissanayake and Mangala Samaraweera at Mr. Dissanayake's residence.

On Friday June19 the President paid a visit to Mr. Dissanayake's house at Wijerama Mawatha to extend her wishes to Ms. Tamara Dissanayake's brother who had got married to the daughter of Sanasa Chairman A. P. Kirivandeniya.

The President came around 8.15 pm with the intention of having dinner with traditional Sinhala cuisine.

Accordingly Polos Maluwa (a preparation of young jak fruit), Ambul Thiyal ( a fish delicacy) and a Pol Sambol were prepared by a cook specially brought to Colombo from the Dissanayake village of Hanguranketa.

After this sumptuous repast the President, Ministers Dissanayake and Samaraweera settled down on sofas to discuss the future political strategy and as to whether they should put off Provincial elections and have a Presidential election instead.

At the weekly meeting of the Ministers President Kumaratunga again brought up this matter.

Minister Samaraweera said that since the President has accepted the challenge by Ranil Wickremesinghe they should go for a Presidential election. Minister Dissanayake expressed the same view. But some ministers preferred the Provincial Elections first. President Kumaratunga then said she felt they should wait for the decision of the UNP. A voice asked "What happens if Ranil says no."

Meanwhile at a special meeting on Thursday the UNP parliamentary group overwhelmingly approved the plan to go for a an early Presidential election.

So the UNP appears to be ready for a Presidential election at anytime. However the UNP decided not to support the government to put off the PC elections.

The UNP's thinking is that the matter must be left to the government. Speaking at Thursday's meeting former Constitutional Affairs Minister K. N. Choksy said the PC polls could be put off using Emergency regulations and the Provincial Council Act.

He said that such a move would not require an amendment to the Constitution. At the beginning of the meeting Premaratne Gunasekera presented a proposal empowering the Party leader to appoint a new Chief Opposition Whip in place of Wijeyapala Mendis.

Seconding the proposal Mervyn Silva said Mr. Wickremesinghe should be given the power to punish any member who is corrupt.

Thereafter Tilak Karunaratne called for a no-confidence motion against the government on the manner of its conduct of the war.

But Gamini Lokuge advised caution saying the government could turn round and accuse the UNP of trying to undermine military operations.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said the President had admitted there were malpractices and mismanagement in the armed forces regarding weapon purchases. It would be prudent to challenge the government on those issues, he said.

After that Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said, he intended to bring in a no-confidence motion against Minister Mangala Samaraweera on the alleged Credit Card affair.

Dr. Senaratne also tabled a number of Pornographic pictures alleged to have been downloaded via Internet by a prominent minister using his official Credit Card to pay for them.

When the group went into a detailed discussion of proposed elections, Sarath Kongahage pointed out that the challenge made by the leader of the party was to hold the Presidential election before the stipulated date which is November 19.

According to the Constitution the President cannot call a Presidential Election until she completes four years on November 19. It is here that the UNP has offered to co-operate in amending the Constitution. Mr. Kongahage also quoted Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte as saying that troops could not be pulled out of the north before November to provide security for elections.

After the group approved the plan for Presidential elections, Hambantota Member Mervyn Silva told Mr. Wickremesinghe "Sir, you received this message when you were in the Kingdom of the God Kataragama, the God came to Kataragama from Kelaniya and it's a coincidence, that this happened on the day you were commemorating the 75th birth anniversary of "god Premadasa".

However, the unanimity on this was marred by the absence of four prominent UNP Parliamentarians- Former Speaker M. H. Mohamed and former Ministers A. C. S. Hameed, A. M. S. Adikari and Anura Bandaranaike, who all had defended Mr. Mendis.

Mr. Bandaranaike's absence sparked off speculation that he was trying to cross over to the People's Alliance to take up the Premiership on the retirement of his mother Sirima Bandaranaike.

A meeting between Mr. Bandaranaike and sister President Kumaratunga was to take place yesterday at a location within the family circle. For some time now Mrs. Bandaranaiake has been anxious that her children should re-establish cordial relation among themselves.

On Friday Mr. Bandaranaike discussed this matter with some close friends. He said he was going with an open mind.

Mr. Bandaranaike had a two hour long discussion with former Minister A. C. S. Hameed too. They discussed the current political situation in general. Some people feel that Mr. Hameed is brokering the crossover of Mr. Bandaranaike to the PA.

Cabinet agrees on PC polls

After weeks of uncertainty over election proposals and counter proposals, the Cabinet at a special meeting on Friday decided to go ahead with the Provincial Council elections for which nominations will be received from next month. President Chandrika Kumaratunga had summoned a special Cabinet meeting after accepting a challenge thrown to her by Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to hold early Presidential Elections.

The President said she was ready for such an election in November when she completes four years in office. According to the Constitution the President cannot call a Presidential Election before the completion of four years.

But the UNP leader said his party was prepared to co-operate with the government to obtain a 2/3 majority in amending the Constitution to hold Presidential election in August.

The Cabinet however decided that the holding of the Presidential election in August would not be practicable. Earlier in the week two senior Ministers had told the Opposition leader that the Government was ready for Presidential election in November if the UNP supported the move to postpone Provincial elections in view of the inability to provide adequate security.

Though the Government was seeking UNP co-operation to postpone PC elections through a Constitutional amendment, the UNP says the government could do this on its own if it wished to through Emergency Regulations. On Friday the Cabinet decided that the electoral process relating to the PC elections would go ahead as scheduled.

It also decided the overall security situation with reference to the war in the North and East would be kept under constant review.

Situation Report

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