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| Sunday, 19 February 2006 |
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Features |  |
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Cooray's desire to be His Worship: The 'long walk' from Adelaide to Colombo Sunday Politics by Nandana Vindana Bulathsinhalage Sirisena Cooray, the strongman of the Premadasa era emerged victorious in the battle within the UNP to be the next UNP Mayor of Colombo, had the party contested and won the Council. But it ended up as a nightmare for the aged Cooray when the UNP list for the CMC was rejected.There were six in the fray with Cooray. Others were Azath Sally, Omar Kamil, Bodhi Ranasinghe, Thilanga Sumathipala and Hemasiri Fernando. Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was forced to concede victory to Cooray due to the pressure mounted by his confidante Milinda Moragoda and Moragoda's right hand from Colombo Central, Mohamed Maharoof. Wickremesinghe had reservations about nominating Cooray.But he finally succumbed to the pressure of Moragoda and Maharoof on Wednesday. When Cooray's nomination surfaced, Wickremesinghe considered the following factors. They were: Cooray's age, a good organiser only when the party was in power, unknown to the present generation of voters, stigma in Cooray's politics with allegations of underworld connections, holocaust (1983), when Cooray was Mayor and would the elite in Colombo 3, 5 and 7 vote for Cooray? The Moragoda-Maharoof combination backed the entry of Cooray into UNP politics again prior to the last November presidential election. They urged Wickremesinghe to give Cooray a place in the event of wining the presidential election. The UNP leader promised to appoint him as the Governor for the Western Province. During the presidential campaign of Wickremesinghe, Cooray was sent to Anuradhapura as District Organiser. But Thilanga Sumathipala followed him there to start an aggressive campaign throwing enough money. UNP supporters began to flock behind Sumathipala. Cooray returned to complain to Wickremesinghe that he had no work to do after Sumathipala arrived.At this point UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickreme proposed to send Cooray to Moneragala. When Cooray went there, the UNP organisers in the district told him that they could manage the campaign by themselves. Once again Cooray returned to Colombo. Hence there was no significant contribution by Cooray towards Wickremesinghe's campaign. After the defeat of Ranil Wickremesinghe at the presidential election, Cooray put the blame on Wickremesinghe for the defeat. As usual Cooray told the media that Wickremesinghe was to be blamed for his defeat and the UNP lacked a quality leader who could revive the party. Having made these comments to the media, Cooray packed his bags and returned to Adelaide, Australia where is reported to be having a home of his own. When the government announced the local government polls,the Moragoda-Maharoof combination got activated when they heard that incumbent Deputy Mayor, Azath Sally was vying to be the next Mayor. Sally is a bitter critic of Maharoof, and, the latter has total control of 32 councillors who are elected from Colombo Central. Whenever, Mayor Prasanna Gunawardene was abroad, Sally was never able to preside as acting Mayor because Maharoof ensured that his 32 men walked out leaving no quorum in the chamber. The Moragoda-Maharoof combination immediately got in touch with Cooray in Australia and persuaded him to come forward assuring he would be made the next Mayor, a position Cooray earlier held for a decade. One morning, the Moragoda-Maharoof combination gate-crashed at Cambridge Terrace to demand the mayoralty for Cooray. Wickremesinghe said he would have to ask M. H. Mohamed who represented Borella. The combination met Mohamed the same day and brought him to the party leader. Mohamed later claimed that he was never briefed in detail about the matter. However, when Wickremesinghe asked him, Mohamed said he had no objection. Then Wickremesinghe decided to put the matter before the party parliamentary group. When the matter was moved, MPs T. Maheswaran and Rajitha Senaratne were critical of the move to nominate Cooray. Senaratne said that MPs who were more American than Americans were behind the move to introduce Adelaide-based old men for the Colombo Mayoralty. At the conclusion, the group rejected the nomination of Cooray. The following day both Moragoda and Maharoof once again and pressurised Wickremesinghe to nominate Cooray. They threatened to withdraw support at the election if the request was turned down. Wickremesinghe finally succumbed to their demands and nominated Cooray on Thursday evening. Deputy Mayor Azath Sally finally agreed, once again to stay in the competition for the same post by reaching an agreement that he be made the Mayor after Cooray completes two years in the office of Mayor. The battle for the Mayoralty in the green camp was short-lived. The UNP list was rejected on the grounds that an under-aged person was included in the list. The fingers were pointed at the Moragoda-Maharoof combination for that lapse that cost the party the CMC after 55 years. With this setback, more battles are bound to take place in the UNP in the coming days. Sirisena Cooray as usual may pack his bags to holiday in Adelaide, once again, when fireworks begin in the party. The UNP has lost control of the CMC which it had held for 57 years, except for a short break when Dr. N. M. Perera became the Mayor. |
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