Denying his civic rights till he turns blue?

The meeting between Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has raised eyebrows of some politicians, National Organiser of the United National Party (UNP) Sumanaweera Banda Dissanayake accused Mrs. Kumaratunga of being responsible for the economy and the North and East problem going from bad to worse during her 11-year tenure.

In an interview with the 'Sunday Observer' he said that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa government has to suffer the repercussions. Here are the excerpts.

Q: What is your opinion about the present political situation in the country?

A: The country is in a transitional period. The government situation is bad, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is in the process of collapsing and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has fallen to a low level.

We the UNP together with former Minister Mangala Samaraweera and MP Sripathy Sooriyarachchi are in the process of forming an alliance. When talking about today's politics, what I can say is that everything is stagnant.

Q: What do you think about the meeting held between the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga?

A: I do not have anything to say but the only thing I can do is to laugh. We crossed over to the UNP from the PA, which we formed, because we could not go along with Chandrika and because she made the economy and the North and East problem go from bad to worse.

These were the main reasons for us to topple the Chandrika government, under my leadership. We formed a government with the UNP but she did not allow us to work and during the tenure of Ranil Wickremesinghe, she disregarded and belittled the good work done by him. But amidst all threats and insults Ranil Wickremesinghe took the country forward.

Still we suffer from the things she did to the country during her tenure. The President Mahinda Rajapaksa government too has to suffer these curses. Chandrika was in power for 11 years but nothing remarkable happened to the country.

She had wanted to meet our leader then she met Ranil Wickremesinghe and what I have to say is that it is good.

Q: The issues that Ranil and Chandrika discussed at the meeting seemed to be secrets.

As the UNP's National Organiser are you aware the things that they discussed?

A: The UNP leader informed me about the things that they discussed but I cannot divulge them now. Though she had insulted him to the maximum, when as a former President of this country she invited Ranil Wickremesinghe for a meeting he accepted it.

This is called gentleman politics.

Q: You had a very close friendship with Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga. So, do you think that she has got any political clout in the country?

A: I don't think so. But earlier Bandaranaikes had a great political influence in the country. It was Chandrika who is responsible for losing that political power.

Q: This government has some more years to be in power. Why does the UNP want to topple the government before that time?

A: In a democratic country the Opposition MPs and the people of that country have the right to topple a government. This is one vital aspect of a democratic state. We are happy over the Eastern victory and now the Silawatura.

Even Great Britain, Russia, India, and Indonesia, which are militarily powerful countries could not end this kind of problem by war.

That is why they devolved power to solve their problems. When a community is concerned about their ethnicity they cannot be suppressed by force and their aspirations could be fulfilled only through devolution of power.

The Tamils in the North are undergoing various hardships today. To end the national problem power should be devolved.

Q: Each time the LTTE is defeated they try to topple the government and this is clearly evident in the past. It is claimed that the LTTE has resorted to the same tactics with the alleged support of the UNP today. What is your view?

A: I do not know anything about the connection between the LTTE and the UNP. But the issue of a secret deal between the LTTE and the Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa was first revealed by Mangala and Sripathy.

They claim that they visited the LTTE, discussed, and paid money. But I don't know about other connections with the LTTE? What I know clearly is that the LTTE tried to meet our leader, the then Presidential candidate, before the election but he refused to meet them.

He said let people should be allowed to vote freely and he was ready to talk to them when we came to power. But now Sripathy says that there was a deal between Mahinda Rajapaksa's representatives and the LTTE and he took part in these meetings.

I do not want to comment further about these LTTE connections but want to reiterate one fact that is we the UNP or our leader Ranil Wickremesinghe did not have any deal with the LTTE.

Q: The LTTE terrorists have been weakened after the Eastern victory. If the UNP comes into power would there be a change in this or will the terrorists be more powerful?

A: The UNP has not yet decided or discussed this issue. What I say is that if the government reaches a ceasefire agreement with a terrorist group they should be restricted to the place where they are. Under the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, we kept the LTTE in the same areas where they were stationed earlier. We did not allow the LTTE to move forward or go backwards.

We kept them where they were and commenced the ceasefire agreement. So if we come to power we won't allow the LTTE to move forward and will keep them in the areas where they are.

I personally feel that the Eastern victory is great and the need of the hour is to talk about devolution of power from that point. I think President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in the right time to devolve power.

Q: If Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga comes on the same political stage with Ranil Wickremesinghe, are you willing to campaign with her on the same stage?

A: For me, it is not so important who comes on the political stage. What I want is to change the government to form a UNP government.

So I am ready to be in the same political stage with anyone, who joins us to form a new government. I am ready to sit next to anyone for that.

Q: As the UNP National Organiser are you confident to refute the allegation that there was a secret deal between the UNP and the LTTE before the election to come into power?

A: Yes. I can refute this claim because there was no such deal with the LTTE. We know better that we did not have any discussion with the LTTE. What I can clearly say is that they tried to approach us. Even when I was in prison they sent me messages inviting me to have a dialogue with them. The reason for that was as a former Samurdhi Minister I had some connections with the LTTE.

During that time I went to the North and I gave them fertiliser and I helped the LTTE to develop their farms and to develop drip irrigation systems in their farms. I have gone to the LTTE's camps and had lunch together. So they invited me to have discussions.

They wanted to get a statement on the EU ban but they failed as our leader Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to have talks. Though the parties concern alleges the UNP for having a secret deal we are very much confident that such a deal never took place.

I did not know that the PA had a secret deal with the LTTE but I was aware that Tiran Alles had a connection with the LTTE just to carry out his business with the Mobitel.

Q: Do you think that the UNP can topple the government over the two main allegations - the rising cost of living and the charges on bribery and corruption?

A: The UNP does not say that we will topple the government soon. I can clearly say that the UNP leader does not say that we change the government before the Budget or within the next three months. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that there is no intention to topple the government at the budget stage.

This is not a secret. If we want to topple the government at the budget stage we definitely need the help of the other parties such as the JVP and the JHU. I cannot see a situation that we can get such assistance from them during this period. The JVP indulges in demonstrations against the government and criticise the government.

They will do everything to discredit the government but they will protect the government and this is not because of their love for President Mahinda Rajapaksa or the Alliance but for their own survival.

It was the JVP which came to the assistance of Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential campaign when the SLFP was pulling his leg. They fought hard to bring him to power. President Rajapaksa knows about this.

The government has a soft corner for the JVP and the JVP is making full use of the government's leniency towards them. So it is not possible to get the assistance of the JVP to topple the government so long as they continue to protect the government.

But the UNP will soon expose this double standard of the JVP to the people and then they will be in trouble. The main reason is that they are scared to go for an election because they can get only 10 seats now and even the JHU is scared because they would not be able to win a single seat.

Q: As a senior politician do you believe that Mangala - Sripathy group can make a big impact in a future election to bring the UNP into power?

A: It depends on how many SLFP members that Mangala can bring to the UNP. Personally I don't think that Mangala will be able to get the support of a large number of SLFPers.

But the intention of our leader is to expand the National Alliance in the future, where all the parties can take part in. When one or two SLFPers join the UNP it won't make a big impact in an election.

Q: You crossed over to the UNP because you were not happy with Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga. Do you have any plan to re-join the SLFP under President Rajapaksa as he is a good friend of yours?

A: To tell the truth, I joined the UNP not solely because of the problems I had with Chandrika but there are many other reasons. I had discussed with several academics and with the secretaries of my miniseries about the future of the country. The main thing is the national problem and it can be solved only through devolution of power.

The other thing the SLFP was in the middle path talking about social democracy when it comes to the country's economy. Most of the countries were following the same path but they changed this track to develop their economies. We also tried to change this track with Chandrika in 1994.

The election manifesto was written by me and the constitutional section was by G.L. Peiris. We highlighted the need of the open market economy, the importance of the private sector, to give a human face to the country's economy and opening more avenues to foreign investments. But we could not change it.

I believe that the only party that could develop the country and find a solution to end the national problem is the UNP. It is true that President Rajapaksa is my good friend. But he won't restore my civic rights.

Q: So, does this means that if President Rajapaksa grants you your civic rights you are willing to join the government?

A: No. First I should get it and then I would consider. It is not fair to offer my civic rights as a bait. Let's see. But I have my political vision to develop this country. I am fully committed to form a UNP Government. I have used special organising skills to topple a government.

People called me a 'voting machine' in the past and we had different tactics to gain more votes. But I do not have an intention to do such things now because I am old. When we learnt that our votes were lacking we acted accordingly to fill the balance.

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