The Political Column

Much ado over the wrong numbers

She had to move fast to arrest a deteriorating situation in the government ranks.

On Wednesday night the President wrapped up deals with the Thondaman-led Ceylon Worker's Congress and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress to make sure that nothing adverse would take place at the voting.

President Kumaratunga agreed to grant one more deputy ministership for the CWC which she delayed for some time because the government did not agree with the nominee put forward by the CWC.

But eventually in a bid to get over a difficult situation, President Kumaratunga had to give in and accept the nomination of Muttu Sivalingam of the CWC for a Deputy Ministership.

President Kumaratunga also agreed to accommodate several other requests put forward by Thondaman in exchange for his support at the third reading of the Budget.

The President exactly knew what was going on in the background and she single-handedly tackled the problem to her satisfaction.

In Parliament on Wednesday, she spoke to many other Parliamentarians at the government lobby located on the second floor of the House.

Her presence pricked the conscience of the Parliamentarians on her side who were in two minds. The President also made it a point to congratulate Minister Ferial Ashraff, widow of M.H.M. Ashraff, for her outstanding contribution at the Budget debate. Not only the President, the most vociferous in the UNP ranks, A.H.M. Azwer, also had a word of praise for Mrs. Ashraff, may be because Azwer admired the qualities of this lady politician who was equally eloquent in all three languages.

After Mrs. Ashraff's erudite delivery, the SLMC had a long discussion with the President and assured the fullest cooperation of the SLMC to get over the difficult situation in Parliament, engineered by the UNP.

The UNP in the meantime also planned its strategy, Mr. Jayasuriya and Gamini Atukorale played a pivotal role in the matter and moved to bring about a change in the administration, though they failed it by a whisker.

Almost all Parliamentarians had a word of praise for the worthy efforts of Karu Jayasuriya and Gamini Atukorale.

Though the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe did not appear in the drama as a protagonist, he, too, contributed his bit, though most of the top UNPers accused him of dragging his feet in the exercise.

UNP leader Wickremesinghe's position was that he was subjected to criticism by the party men for not making an effort to topple the government through the Parliamentary process and that he had now paved the way for others to go ahead and execute the plan.

Mr. Wickremesinghe appointed a committee for this purpose headed by Karu Jayasuriya which included Rukman Senanayake, Gamini Atukorale, M.H. Mohamed and Rajitha Senaratne.

But at the same time he had commissioned some others too to get on with this busi ness, alleged insiders. Mr. Wickremesinghe on numerous occasions asked the party seniors to show him the numbers and told that he and another journalist working out on the numbers available and found that it was not sufficient to bring down the government.

However, Mr. Wickremesinghe who came under pressure from party seniors has had a meeting with Arumugam Thondaman on Wednesday. Mr. Wickremesinghe was accompanied by Milinda Moragoda.

This was also a sequel to a meeting he had with Karu Jayasuriya and Gamini Atukorale who told Mr. Wickramasinghe that they had been asked to convince three PA members. Later in the day Mr. Wickremesinghe had a meeting with the three who were likely to cross over.

At the meeting with Mr. Wickremesinghe, Mr. Thondaman had apparently asked as to whether they were certain that they had enough numbers. The UNP had no definite answer and nothing positive came about since the UNP was not certain of the exact number they could pull out from the government ranks.

Soon after the Wickremesinghe-Thondaman meeting, Mr. Wickremesinghe's private secretary, Sudath Chandrasekera who was privy to all the information of the discussion which he allegedly communicated to one Kithsiri Manchanayake.

Kithsiri Manchanayake was at one stage considered for the coveted General Secretaryship of the UNP along with Senarath Kapukotuwa and Eran Wickremaratne, a well known banker. However, when the UNP Management committee discovered Mr. Manchanayake's alleged links with the People's Alliance, his application was vetoed by them.

The former UNP General Secretary Mr. Atukorale, was responsible for discovering Manchanayake's alleged links with the PA and reporting the matter to the Management committee which was fully endorsed by Karu Jayasuriya, too.

Insiders now say that Kithsiri Manchanayake has a link to the Presidential Security Division and to Minister Reggie Ranatunga. Whatever the position may be, seniors are baffled over the manner in which Mr. Wickremesinghe had responded to the recent developments and his show of complete indifference to them.

Some others told this column that he looked a dejected man when he attended the din ner hosted by UNP frontliner Tyronne Fernando at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel on Wednesday night.

Nearly 70 members attended, but the notable absentees were Mr. Jayasuriya and Atukorale. The UNPers were joking that the duo had already attended an operation, called the "Operation Budget Storm" which did not eventually materialise.

The two seniors were meeting with some people from the CWC. Though originally they decided to meet at Mr. Jayasuriya's residence, the venue was later changed.

A Senior Vice-President of the CWC, Mr. P. Kandasamy participated in most of these discussions the CWC had with the UNP.

Mr. Kandasamy, the man behind the Galle Harbour Development Project tender, was the subject of criticism by the UNP at one stage against odds such as Geoff Gunawardena who also had his slice of interest in the project.

Mr. Gunawardena backed by prominent UNPers at the time created a sensation over the awarding of the tender to Kandasamy's principals.

The UNP even went to the extent of bringing a motion of 'no confidence' against the then Post and Shipping Minister M.H.M. Ashraff over the matter.

However, in the Sri Lankan political scene, things change so rapidly; that Kandasamy, the Police Officer turned politician and one-time bugbear became one of the chief movers back stage. Mr. Kandasamy at one stage asked the UNP negotiators as to whether they were sure of their own cadres.

Mr. Kandasamy had apparently mentioned two names, that of M.S. Sellasamy and another and posed the question, "Are you sure that the PA had not already struck a deal with them"? He said quite confidently that moves are underway by the PA to buy over two UNPers.

The UNP delegation later called on Mr. Thondaman to talk over the developments but he said "I am under surveileance". However when they met close to mid-night Mr. Thondaman insisted that the UNP had not got sufficient numbers.

The late nocturnal meeting of Mr. Jayasuriya and Gamini Atukorale was not fruitful as it ought to but they did not give up hopes until the last moment, when they were convinced that it was not an easy task to pluck out MPs from a government which is being given leadership by an executive President, which was in fact a UNP creation.

But they were not sad people. At least they made a sincere effort without dragging their feet on the matter and their singular loyalty towards their party, the grand old party founded by D.S. Senanayake and strengthened by leaders such as Dudley Senanayake, Sir John Kotalawela, J.R. Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Insiders blame that the present UNP lacked charisma and is bogged down only with the idea of coming back to power through elections. "Defeating the government at the Budget debate is not an extra-parliamentary method. It is well within the Constitution and the Constitution provides for it," they pointed out.

They fondly remember President J.R. Jayewardene who was the main architect behind the famous 1964 cross over which brought down Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike's government.

One analyst who browses through the recent political history commented it was amazing how he got down two UNP MPs in London along with a government Parliamentary delegation without their knowledge. The two MPs concerned even had breakfast with others after which they emplaned without the knowledge of the others. "That's how you must execute a plan. It should be done by a few experts and J.R.J. had Esmond Wickremesinghe but the present UNP has none" he pointed out.

He also reminded what Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike told one-time Governor of the Central Bank N.U. Jayawardene when the latter expressed his reservations about Bandaranaike's Sinhala only policy. Bandaranaike said, "I would even go along with devil's grandmother to defeat the UNP."

But UNP today has nobody, the minority parties which rallied round the UNP against the nationalist SLFP had deserted the UNP and the UNP is not even left with a 'dene' to go about and defeat the PA.

Be that as it may, the PA government, apart from the official UNP sources, got wind of the possible attempt by the UNP to defeat the government at the third reading of the Budget through a businessman who wanted to check the veracity of the UNP's move.

The businessman, a close friend of former UNP Parliamentarian Sarath Kongahage, contacted him after being approached by some UNPers to raise funds for the crossover exercise.

He, Mr. Kongahage, said about the purported discussions the UNP has had with the CWC.

"The commitment is 80 million rupees". He told Mr. Kongahage. 

Money will definitely change hands in such an exercise and it is a well known fact that the CWC is in financial difficulties over its headquarters.

Mr. Kongahage immediately contacted Minister S.B. Dissanayake to inform him of the impending danger.

Thereafter the Minister met with the Presi dent and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake the same night which lasted for few hours. They set their own plan in motion and made immediate arrangements for the President to meet with the twenty odd MPs who had not been assigned with any governmental duty.

The President later summoned the government parliamentary group where she warned the Parliamentarians of the UNP plan.

She told them not to fall a prey to the UNP antics.

Before President Kumaratunga's arrival at the meeting hall, Minister Reggie Ranatunga told members of the government Parliamentary group that the UNP was planning to buy over some of the PA Parliamentarians to vote against the Budget to create chaos in the country's political arena.

Their idea is to defeat the government and form a UNP government Ranatunga told the Parliamentary group. 

On Thursday April 5, President Chandrika Kumaratunga was perturbed a bit because a program on the Rupavahini portraying her visit to France was interrupted. She called the Rupavahini to find out what was wrong. Media Minister Anura Yapa who watched the program from his home, too, wanted to know as to what had gone wrong. He also called the Rupavahini's head office but could not get hold of any responsible officer who could tell him what was wrong. The only reply he got from an employee there was that there was a central power interruption.

This matter was discussed at length by a few ministers at a dinner hosted by former SLMC Parliamentarian M.M. Zuhair. The occasion was Mr. Zuhair's elevation to a high echelon in the legal profession. That morning he took oath as a new President's Counsel with eight others.

Ministers Anura Yapa and Mangala Samaraweera who attended this dinner discussed the Rupavahini problem and expressed dissatisfaction with the present management. It now looks that several heads at the Rupavahini will roll on account of the interruption of the Presidential program on TV.

At Mr. Zuhair's dinner, there were so many other VIPs including minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and President's Secretary Kusumsiri Balapatabendi.

Beside these, the UNP is also trying its best to retain the chairmanship of the Committee on Public Enterprises.

The government feels that the UNP manoeuvred to clinch the Chairmanship of the COPE which would have gone to the government benches under normal circumstances.

More than anything President Kumaratunga was annoyed over the manner in which the UNP is trying to conduct its affairs.

COPE Chairman John Amaratunga who had an opportunity to meet with President Chandrika Kumaratunga while on his way to London requested the President to refrain from dissolving the COPE.

The President said that she had nothing personally against Mr. Amaratunga but would not tolerate the accusation made by some UNP Parliamentarians against some of the bureaucrats.

Mr. Amaratunga promised to take care of those things and told President not to dissolve the COPE.

Mr. Amaratunga now says that he would even go to court if the government tried to remove him from the chairmanship.

But the government had already moved to prorogue Parliament by which all Parliamentary Committees would stand dissolved under the Standing Orders of the House.

Mr. Amaratunga, however, said that his election as COPE's chairman had been upheld by Speaker Anura Bandaranaike and he believed that the government would not remove him by prorogation but only by dissolution of Parliament.

Mr. Amaratunga had been elected as the chairman of the COPE when four of the seven PA members were not present.

At the party leaders meeting held subsequently, the PA had pointed out that the chairmanship should have come to the PA and asked that Mr. Amaratunge should tender his resignation forthwith.

The UNP had rejected it and the government had resolved that they would not provide necessary quorum for the COPE to function, meaning that all PA members would stay away.

But Mr. Amaratunge took up the position that the five Opposition members would form the required quorum.

Mr. Amaratunga reiterated the fact that the COPE would meet by the end of the month to probe corruption charges against CEB.

Another interesting scenario that is developing in the Sri Lankan political scene is the proposed government - LTTE talks to end the urgent ethnic problem.

However, the latest demand put forward by the LTTE to lift the ban had created some doubts in the hearts and the minds of the people about their sincerity on the whole issue.

It does not augur well for both sides to put forward fresh demands as the modules have been worked out for the Norwegian peace talks.

The LTTE demand is that they are unable to hold talks with the government while they are a banned organisation but there is precedence to them. British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while they were a banned organisation, then one might argue that the British Government held talks with the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein Similarly the political wing of the LTTE which was recognised as a political party during President Premadasa's time is not considered a banned organisation even now.

But now the LTTE's position is that they would not extend their ceasefire after April 24 if the government fails to respond to their request.

The LTTE is also planning a major onslaught after the April 24 while the government is preparing to take over Elephant Pass which they lost during the last Easter.

Besides these, the legal battle over the control of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka has taken new dimensions when the Ministry of Sports and the officials of the former board have locked horns over the manner the minister moved to dissolve the board. While the ministry had issued a notice not to interfere with the management of the interim board the former board officials through their lawyers have addressed both Chief Executive Anura Tennekoon and Interim Board Chairman Vijeya Malalasekera that they are unable to function in view of the decision given by the District Court dismissing the application filed by Sumith Perera of the Baduraliya Sports Club.

In their view the former board had not violated the sports law and hence the Interim Board has no legal authority to function.

The former board officials also question the logic behind the dissolution after the minister giving his approval to the incumbent Chairman Thilanga Sumathipala to contest at the next election.

Situation Report

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