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| Sunday, 4 July 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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DUA vs UNP in Colombo Central From the Kraal Mahout It is election time once again. The Provincial Council elections for six councils will get underway this Saturday. Major political parties are in the fray again. While the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance goes to polls confident of grabbing all six Councils, the United National Party is fighting to win the Central Province and the Colombo Central electorate in the Colombo District. While it will be an open battle between the UPFA and the UNP in the Central area of the country, the UNP's chances of taking the Colombo Central electorate now hangs in the balance with a new political party in the fray. That is the Democratic Unity Alliance (DUA) led by a one time SLMC stalwart during the days of M. H. M. Ashraff. He is Hafiz Nazeer Ahamed. This man who leads the DUA has formed the party on a different concept. This party does not have race or religious barriers. Long standing UNP local body stalwarts like Vijitha Kadiragonna have joined the DUA and are contesting Saturday's election. Several SLMC supporters too have accepted the DUA concept and are candidates for Colombo. SLMC stalwart, M. J. M. Muzamil is also a DUA candidate for Colombo. Kadiragonna has been in the UNP political contests for 22 years. His exit from the party in Colombo Central looks a severe blow to the party. The DUA on the other hand had focused attention only on contesting the Colombo district in the WPC with much emphasis on Colombo Central. Hence, they are going to offer stiff resistance to the UNP which has dominated Colombo Central for many decades. DUA Secretary General and Chairman of the Leaders' Council, Ahamed said that his party rejected confrontational politics that has put democracy in peril. "We believe that all the people are Sri Lankans and they should be treated with equality," he said and added that when a sick person needs blood, the race of the donor was not considered. The policy framework of DUA and its action plan envisages several features that benefit the poorer class of the people in the heart of the Colombo city. It has offered several schemes to that class of people if they are elected to the Council. Priority has been given to education, health and social welfare which seem to be important areas that political parties should lay emphasis on. According to Ahamed, they have put forward a strong list of candidates in Colombo Central and confidently believe that at least three DUA members would enter the next Western Provincial Council to serve the people. The exit of UNP candidates like Kadiragonna and Ernest Peiris from Colombo will certainly be a severe blow to the Chief Organiser of the UNP in Colombo Central. The UNP has been blowing its political trumpet from this electorate at all elections. It always ignored the threat posed by Leftist political parties. But this time, the threat has doubled with DUA coming in, led by a good political strategist, Nazeer Ahamed who was an Advisor to late Ashraff on Political and International Affairs. His decision to open the party for all communities may also affect the Western Province People's Front led by UNP Parliamentarian Mano Ganeshan in his attempt to alienate the Tamils in Colombo as a separate entity to grab their vote. The DUA has several Tamil candidates in the fray to pose a threat to the Ganeshan-led Front. With Ganeshan's Front in the fray, the UNP vote base has been divided in Colombo Central. Even at the last general election, the Tamil vote in Colombo was grabbed by Mano Ganeshan which reduced the preferences of formidable UNP candidate in Colombo Central, Mohamed Maharoof by nearly 25,000 over the previous general election. Therefore, the entry of the new political party DUA is certain to pose a threat to the UNP attempt to win more members from the Colombo Central vote base. This may prove Parliamentarian S. B. Dissanayake's prediction wrong that the UNP will convincingly win the Colombo Central base at the WPC election on Saturday. In the Central hills, the UNP Deputy General Secretary, Tissa Attanayake will prove himself on his new assignment. He will have to battle it out hard to retain the power of that Council. He was one who put pressure on his party leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe for reforms after the polls defeat in April. Wickremesinghe shrewdly appointed him to that position in the reforms he initiated recently. The ball is now in Attanayake's court. The UPFA is confident of winning the Central Council. If that happens, where Attanayake will stand in the party is the question. Saturday will be a decisive day for the UNP in Colombo Central and Central Province. |
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