Leadership tussle over:

UNP supporters call upon leaders to work together

Jaliya Wijeyekoon

The United National Party (UNP) the second oldest political party in the country and formed by the first Prime Minister of Ceylon, D.S. Senanayake who ruled our country for over 30 years under different leaders since independence.

D.S. Senanayake	Dudley Senanayake	Sir John Kotelawala	J.R. Jayewardene
D.B. Wijethunga	R. Premadasa		Ranil Wickremesinghe

Great visionary

D.S. Senanayake who had a great vision for the country initiated a number of mega development projects to uplift the socio-economic standards of the people. The greatest achievement during his tenure of office was winning independence from colonial rule.He was well poised to lead the country towards a brighter future when he met a sudden death, falling off his horse while on his regular exercises at Galle Face Green.

After the death of D.S. Senanayake, his eldest son Dudley Senanayake, who was then Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet was appointed Prime Minister by Lord Soulbury, the then Governor of independent Ceylon over an understanding he had with D.S. Senanayake prior to his untimely demise.

Mild-mannered politician

Dudley Senanayake, a Cambridge scholar became the UNP leader as well, and guided the party and won the subsequent election held in 1953 with a two-third majority and was unanimously elected as the Prime Minister for a second consecutive term.

However, with the passage of time, his second term turned out to be a bit troublesome with conflicts and differences of opinion on various issues among his own party stalwarts S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike broke away from the party and formed the MEP while Sir John Kotelawala targetted the prestigious position of Prime Minister and the leadership of the party. Dudley, a mild-mannered leader stepped down from the leadership and politics, paving the way for Sir John to take over the reins of the party.

Military figure

Sir John Kotelawala who was more of a military personality was not a successful party leader and the UNP was swept out of power at the next election. Sir John never returned to politics and lived in isolation the rest of his life following the debacle suffered by the party under his leadership.

Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene got together and reorganised the party and came into power again on two occasions under the former’s leadership, but not without conflicts which they sorted out amicably.

Dudley Senanayake passed away in 1973 and undisputed Deputy Leader J.R. Jayewardene took over the reins of the party and revolutionised the organisation mechanism of the party and led it to a historic five-sixth victory at the 1977 general election.

Shrewd leader

Jayewardene commanded the respect of all and nobody dared challenge his leadership until he completed his second term. A number of changes took place in the socio-economic sphere and in the lives of people during his tenure as the first Executive President of Sri Lanka.

Fomer president Jayewardene also had differences of opinion with some of his ministers during the latter part of his second term, but no one openly challenged him except Gamini Jayasooriya who relinquished his portfolio over the disagreement he had with Former president Jayewardene over the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord.

Jayewardene groomed two of his able lieutenants to take over the party leadership after his retirement.

However, Ranasinghe Premadasa was also preparing himself as a formidable force and finally JR had to give way to R. Premadasa as he had made all infrastructure requirements with the majority membership support.

However, within a short period of time, Premadasa had to face grave problems from all quarters. The LTTE was in full swing in the North while the JVP was involved in the height of its terror activities indiscriminately killing forces personnel, politicians, artistes, and even members of the Buddhist clergy who aired their views against the JVP movement.

Impeachment motion

In addition to these two burning catastrophies, Premadasa was confronted by another internal conflict orchestrated by his own party stalwarts with the support of the opposition, the Impeachment Motion. Premadasa, though not a scholar was a veteran practical politician who had gone through the mill.

He immediately prorogued Parliament and handled the situation in such a manner that some of the party members who had signed the impeachment motion withdrew their signatures. President Premadasa sailed through turbulent waves and reached the shore safely.

He was assassinated on May 1, 1993 and D.B. Wijethunga, who was then Prime Minister became the President and Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed Prime Minister.

Wickremesinghe was the chief architect in handling the transition of power following the sudden death of President Premadasa and his action was lauded by world leaders. In similar situations in other countries there had been mass scale bloodshed and chaotic situations for days.

That was the first instance in which Wickremesinghe displayed his statesmanship to the world which was appreciated by all.

However, with the untimely death of President Premadasa, the UNP became slightly demoralised and the People’s Alliance was gaining ground in the political sphere with the entry of Chandrika Kumaratunga into active politics.

President Wijethunga dissolved Parliament in 1993 and went for an election six months prior to the scheduled date and lost it by one majority vote in the house.

Dramatic changes

Gamini Dissanayake, who had broken away from the UNP and formed the DUNF, had rejoined the party by that time, and wanted to form a government with the support of A.H.M. Ashroff. However, Wickremesinghe gracefully bowed down to the people’s verdict and resigned from the Premiership and left temple trees peacefully.

However, there were many dramatic changes and unfortunate incidents in the party and among some party stalwarts, and finally the party leadership was thrust upon Ranil Wickremesinghe. He formed a government in 2001 with the able assistance of a PA breakaway group, headed by SLFP General Secretary S.B. Dissanayake.

However, he was unable to consolidate and continue in power due to a variety of reasons. It is accepted even by Wickremesinghe’s opponents that he possesses an ocean of knowledge in Parliamentary affairs, national and international politics, bilateral and multilateral issues and can get on to any international forum.

But according to some party representatives he will never rise to become the national leader since he is not a practitional politician who comprehends the pulse of the masses of the country.

Presidential election in 2010 followed by the General election where the United National Party suffered a humiliating defeat saw a number of developments against the leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Some vociferous young UNP Parliamentarians openly challenged the leadership over the defeat and some even went to the extent of saying that the UNP would never achieve any victory under the present leadership.

Sajith Premadasa, the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, was a key figure who challenged the leadership over the debacle of the party at the last few elections.

The United National Party has been virtually divided into two groups during the past few months owing to the leadership tussle.

One of the main allegations levelled against the incumbent leader was, that democracy is not maintained in the party and that electing office bearers should be done on a more democratic manner.

After a long period of unrest and clamour, the party hierarchy appointed a committee to look into the matters. Various suggestions and proposals were accepted from different quarters of the party and they were officially ratified at the eagerly anticipated convention which was held on December 12 2010.

A decision was taken at the convention to appoint all office bearers of the party through the secret ballot of the sitting Parliamentarians and the Executive committee members in the absence of a consensus for such posts.

The UNP gained a new lease of life with the convention and mainly Sajith Premadasa’s supporters were overjoyed with some ratification adopted at the convention.

Immediately after the annual convention, the UNP became heavily involved in the LG Polls and everybody was equally busy during the last few months. Wickremesinghe and Premadasa went round the country and launched an aggressive campaign, but ended up losing power even in some of the local bodies that were under their wings.

The UNP’s main argument is that they have increased the percentage of votes at the recently concluded LG Polls in comparison to the last Presidential and General elections.

The UNP membership was more interested in choosing a new leader and Premadasa’s supporters were making various remarks even on the LG Polls platforms. Press conferences and TV discussions were full of Premadasa supporters while Wickremesinghe was mute as usual with regard to the leadership issue.

Soon after the LG polls were over, the UNP decided to select their new office bearers and an executive committee meeting was convened at the party headquarters on March 19. There had been a prolonged discussion where no final decision was taken except for arriving at a conclusion to select the leader with the consensus of the membership.

During the past few weeks, all UNP stalwarts and supporters had had closed door discussions in various venues to arrive at an amicable settlement to this all important issue without jeopardising the party further.

Last Wednesday evening they met again at the party headquarters and elected their office bearers unanimously to the surprise of the public. Ranil Wickremesinghe remained as the party leader while a new Co-Deputy leader post was created. Sajith Premadasa accepted the position which has a wide variety of powers confered around it.

Now the leadership tussle of the party is over and the party membership is anxiously waiting to see how all these leaders work as one unit to bring back the lost glory of the grand old party and to win a future election.

It is quite evident that there were a number of forces who worked to consolidate this position and arrive at this amicable settlement. And it is the prime duty of both the leaders to mutually respect each other and work with determination, leaving aside petty differences for the sake of disgruntled membership.

Party supporters in all four corners of the country now expect both groups to work as one unit maintaining absolute discipline to regain the party’s former glory.