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| Sunday, 22 February 2004 |
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Tigers study UPFA chances of forming stable Govt. The Battle of the Diyawanna by Vidushaka With only a few days left for nominations over 15 parties have handed over their nomination lists to the respective District Secretariats. While some crossovers are taking place as usual among the rival parties, the parties were busy finalising the nominations. Both the major parties, the UPFA and the UNF confirmed that they had almost finalised their lists and they will be handed over on 23 and 24 February. The UPFA which has bloomed on aspirations of the general public is surrounded by all the PA allied parties defeating all counter attacks. The MEP, LSSP, CP, NUA, SLMP, DVJP and several other forces have joined the Alliance laying a solid foundation to solve the country's national problem. While all the parties are getting ready with their manifestos, an Alliance frontliner said that its manifesto would not be a cheap one compared to others and would be one to develop the country through a strong local economy. Meanwhile, a new alliance has been created against the TNA in the North and East by the members of EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF and EROS and they have also pledged support to the UPFA at the forthcoming election. However, with the formation of this new Tamil alliance, they are receiving death threats from unidentified callers. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was in hot water last week while the SLMC Leader Rauf Hakeem forced the PM to erase the name of Faiz Mustafa from the Kandy district nomination list. Mustafa is to contest under the UNF representing the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) and the PM was seen engaging in a difficult exercise to rescue both the SLMC Leader as well as the CWC Leader Arumugam Thondaman. Political sources revealed that a meeting between the SLMC Leader and the Premier to draft an MoU for the forthcoming election on Thursday had not brought any positive results for Mr. Wickremesinghe. Sources said that Hakeem's demands were so high that UNF members did not want to palaver Mr.Hakeem so much. Meanwhile, Hakeem's failure to win the assistance of the Athaullah faction at the election had been criticised at a UNF high level meeting. Former Deputy Highways Minister and leader of the Ashraff faction of the SLMC A. L. M. Athaullah Friday signed an agreement with the Freedom Alliance before President Chandrika Kumaratunga pledging to strengthen her hand at the election. SLMC Deputy Leader Anwar Ismail and its Treasurer H. M. Hariz will be assisting the SLFP-JVP alliance coming under the NUA banner. Meanwhile, speculation was rife, according to the Tamil political parties that the LTTE is studying the chances of the alliance coming to power and forming a stable government. They have said that it would be a positive sign to commence talks with a stable government to solve the two decades long ethnic conflict. At the same time, President Chandrika Kumaratunga again confirmed her resolute determination at a public function in Gampaha on Thursday that the new Alliance government will go to the negotiation table with the LTTE. The Co-Chair meeting of the Tokyo Donor Conference in Washington on Tuesday decided to continue the flow of aid to Sri Lanka, so UNF's claims that the country will receive nothing was baseless. The mouth-pieces attuned to the same song with the dissolution of parliament were made silent with the Co-chair decision. The co-chairs have also decided to convene a meeting at an early date after the elections. Meanwhile, Sihala Urumaya (now Jathika Hela Urumaya) which has realised that they had been rejected by the country, bamboozled the Buddhist monks for petty political gain. Buddhist monks who were unable to understand this political scenario of the SU high rankers got on to the political stage. The slogans of the JHU will be attractive but who knows how far it would be feasible for the practical participation of Buddhist monks in the messy political field? |
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