UNP ‘Reformists’ speak to JVP; Karu J’s position shaky

The Opposition United National Party (UNP) holds its annual convention today despite a last minute attempt to have it cancelled as the re-appointment or sacking of its deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya becomes the major issue of the event. The decision hinges today on whether party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will re-appoint Mr. Jayasuriya following the latter's continued efforts to clip Mr. Wickremesinghe's powers, which climaxed this week with an abortive effort to have the convention -- of which Mr. Jayasuriya is the chairman of the organising committee -- cancelled.

Pro-Wickremesinghe UNP MPs were on Friday and yesterday demanding the sacking of Mr. Jayasuriya as the party's deputy leader, but Mr. Wickremesinghe remained tight-lipped and non-committal about what he would do. In other words, he did not say he would re-appoint Mr. Jayasuriya, a function entrusted to him to carry out today as much as to appoint the party chairman (Rukman Senanayake) and party secretary (Tissa Attanayake).

Mr. Jayasuriya initially refused to make any comment, but by last night issued a statement saying "if more democratic safeguards were instituted and if decision-making processes are made more democratic, Mr. Wickremesinghe would emerge stronger".
The statement said that the intent of the Reformists was to prevent the party's disintegration, and dismissed what he called was a "myth" that they wanted to oust the party leader.

He said they (the Reformists) would continue to agitate for party reforms, and asked for the ratification of the party reforms reached at the Working Committee meeting. Meanwhile, the down, but not out, self-styled Reformists of the UNP have vowed to "carry on" their campaign to clip the wings of party leader Wickremesinghe even after today's annual convention despite their petition to cancel the convention being rejected by court on Friday.

Ostensibly led by former SLFP General Secretary S.B. Dissanayake, former Ministers G.L. Peiris, Gamini Lokuge, Dharmadasa Banda and Milinda Moragoda, the Reformists yesterday consulted lawyers and telephoned JVP MPs to discuss future legal and political strategy. These fresh moves came a day after Mr. Dissanayake issued a press release calling on UNPers to work for party unity to defeat the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government.

The group has decided to argue their case when the inquiry comes up for hearing before the Mount Lavinia District Courts on December 1, with the belief that should they succeed, all decisions taken at today's convention could be set aside. Politically, deputy leader Jayasuriya and Mr. Dissanayake have been telephoning JVP MPs yesterday suggesting they meet next week. Analysts believe the 'Reformists' have indicated their willingness to back a JVP MP to be the Leader of the Opposition in place of the UNP's Mr. Wickremesinghe, and to sit as a separate group in the Opposition. They have pledged 20 UNP MPs to the JVP for the exercise.

The reforms proposed by Mr. Dissanayake were re-formulated into a set of Political Principles and now in the form of resolutions aimed at reconstituting the composition of the Working Committee and the Political Affairs Committee for approval at today's onvention. It was also decided that all party leaders will decide within 100 days of the convention to implement these resolutions on party reforms.