UNP rebels throw down the gauntlet

• Ranil dreams of grand alliance
• President says Mervyn is ‘popular’

With party rebels baying for his blood about the Leader being out of touch with reality and the grassroots community, Wickremesinghe appears to have missed the bus once again

The rebels are now engaging in a media campaign of their own, claiming that whilst they kept the crisis within the party initially, the time had now come to let the public know what is really happening within the UNP
 

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is struggling to keep an internal party crisis in check, is continuing with his campaign to create a grand opposition alliance, with the first meeting of the alliance partners allegedly scheduled for next week.

However, the ‘grand coalition’ is unlikely to make any headway, since Wickremesinghe appears once again to have garnered only the support of the minority parties for the move. The JVP last week claimed it had no intention of forging any electoral pacts with any other opposition party but would consider supporting issues raised by such a coalition on a case by case basis. On the other hand, the minority parties are maintaining that they have not been invited to form any such alliance with the UNP. The progress of the Grand Alliance concept apparently is only a figment of the imagination of the UNP Leader and his acolytes.

That aside, it also highlights another problem for the main opposition party.
With party rebels baying for his blood about the Leader being out of touch with reality and the grassroots community, Wickremesinghe appears to have missed the bus once again. The minority community already votes with the UNP and its coalition partners. Tamils and Muslims have nothing in common with the UPFA agendas and have traditionally viewed the UNP as the party most friendly towards minority communities.

The UNP’s fundamental problem has been for the last several years the support of the majority community, the Sinhalese, who have of late begun to see the Grand Old Party as treacherous and governed according to the whims of international powers. The Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 and the Norwegian brokered peace process are seen by the Sinhalese people as orchestrations of the UNP, aimed at giving away the north and east to the LTTE. In effect, the UNP has in recent years, come to be seen as Eelamists and while this might be a completely flawed analysis, especially in light of what occurred during the CFA – namely the Karuna Amman split – the UNP has done little to advance its cause.

At a time when the government claims to be on the cusp of victory in the Wanni, attempting to forge alliances with the TNA for instance, which is seen as being LTTE proxies is inviting disaster and further defeat at what is going to be an inevitable election at the end of this military campaign. Wickremesinghe has lost sight of what he needs to do in the process of trying to create media hype over a phenomenon that does not even exist.

Meanwhile, the UNP’s latest rebel group claims that their campaign to oust the Leader is by no means done. The rebels are refusing to accept the farcical reforms put forward by the ‘seniors’ of the UNP, believed to have been manipulated by Wickremesinghe himself.

They accuse the UNP Leader of conducting a media campaign, using his stalwarts in the party including John Amaratunge and Vajira Abeywardane to sling mud at the dissidents in the hope of getting these shoddy reforms passed at the party convention later this year. The rebels are now engaging in a media campaign of their own, claiming that whilst they kept the crisis within the party initially, the time had now come to let the public know what is really happening within the UNP.

The farce of the Grand Opposition Coalition therefore, amounts to no more than a diversionary tactic for a problem that has reached volcanic proportions and is threatening the continuance of the party itself.
All this bodes well for the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had some laughs together with leading cartoonists in the country last week.

President Rajapaksa had invited newspaper cartoonists to Temple Trees for the presentation of a compilation of published cartoons edited by Mul Pituwa Host Bandula Padmakumara. IT was in fact Padmakumara who organized the meeting at the President’s residence.

At the very outset of the meeting, the President told the cartoonists how much he loved their cartoons.
“You draw me like a giant and Ranil as a very small man in your cartoonists. Cartoons are suggestive of the most popular man in the country. During the last presidential election the UNP attempted to tarnish my image by using cartoons in advertisements. However, it only increased my popularity. I took a fancy to watch those advertisements. The UNP gave me much publicity when I was not in a position to spend for my propaganda campaign, and I was not a stranger even to the small children in the villages. It resulted in my victory at the election” the President said.
“However, I was compelled to make a request from one media institution not to disgrace my Satakaya,” the President added referring to his shawl.

“I never intended to disgrace the Sataka. I simply wanted to reflect your leniency towards Minister Mervyn Silva,” said Lankadeepa cartoonist Dasa Hapuwalana.
However, the President denied this claim of leniency. Instead, he said that Silva was ‘extremely popular’ and that there was a great demand for him.
Turning to Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa the President quipped “Anura, have you ever been a target of the cartoonist?”

“No not me, it is Bandula who is often the victim” the Minister replied with a laughter.
The President also held another interesting discussion with three special guests from the media circles. President, Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association Sanath Balasuriya, its Secretary Poddala Jayantha and Convenor of the Free Media Movement Uvindu Kurukulasuriya attended the meeting. The discussion was cordial, with the President reminiscing fondly about incidents in the past.

But then the media personnel heard another voice speaking loudly from an adjacent room. It happened to be the voice of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, which they recognized easily. It reminded them of the tense meeting held with the Defence Secretary recently. When a Temple Trees staffer asked if they had realised who was in the next room, the media representatives chose not to comment. However, moments later, the Defence Secretary peeped into the room and abruptly shut the door the moment he saw Balasuriya inside. No doubt the bad blood from that stormy meeting continues to hold sway even several months later.

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JVP focuses on CoL at politburo meet

The JVP Politburo gave priority to the spiralling cost of living at last week’s meeting.
“Several more trade unions have agreed to join our campaign for the Rs.5000 wage hike demand and the people have shown a positive response to the petition which is now being signed,” said Trade Union Leader and MP K.D. Lalkantha.
“The government is not likely to reduce the fuel prices,” piped in JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva.

However, the party’s new Propaganda Secretary, Vijitha Herath was convinced that the government was going to gain cheap political mileage by reducing the prices in the next budget or when another election was around the corner.

Party Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said that the government which is dependent entirely on the military success in the north for survival will capitalize on the oil prices as well
- Nayanaka Ranwella

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