Dayasiri’s stunning performance shocks politicoes

Government and Opposition politicians were having a relatively smooth schedule last week after the hectic Provincial Council election campaign. All of them had been engaged in a vigorous political campaign during the recent elections to the Central, Northern and North Western Provincial Councils.

As expected, the UPFA registered landslide victories in North Western and Central provinces while TNA comfortably won the North. Nevertheless, the UPFA fared much better than all other parties in securing seven seats in the Northern Provincial Council.

Despite TNA’s sinister campaign playing the racist and separatist cards to mislead the Tamils in the North, the UPFA polled neatly 83,000 votes - way ahead of the main Opposition UNP and all other parties. The UNP failed to win a single seat in the North.

But the most notable feature in last weekend’s election was the unprecedented number of preferential votes polled by former UNP Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera.

Jayasekera secured the highest preference votes in the Kurunegala district with a staggering 336,327 votes to head the UPFA list. Though Dayasiri was one of the three front runners in the race, none expected him to create history with such a large number of preferential votes, even surpassing the all-time record of 297,000 plus by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Though many expected a keen tussle for the UPFA’s top slot in Kurunegala District, Dayasiri finished way ahead of the other two favourites. UPFA candidate Johan Fernando, son of Johnston Fernando, was placed second with 134,443 votes. Former Chief Minister Athula Wijesinghe was placed fifth with only 47,014 preferential votes behind, D.B. Herath (60,960) and G. Dehigama (59,016).

The recent Provincial Council election defeat marked UNP’s 27th consecutive loss under the tottering leadership of Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. UNP fared miserably in all three provinces but party’s General Secretary Tissa Attanayake was seen making a desperate attempt to paint a different picture by bringing out statistical data here and there.

Pressure on Ranil to quit

As expected, the pressure on Ranil to quit the UNP leadership mounted after the party’s latest defeat. The manner in which the UNP has lost elections since Ranil become party leader has now become a way of life for their supporters whose morale has gone down to rock bottom.

Following last year’s strategic constitutional move in the party, Ranil is guaranteed the party leadership for five more years. But the UNP reformists have strengthened their campaign to oust Ranil. But it will not be that easy as the party leader enjoys a wide range of executive power under the new UNP constitution.

Former UNP deputy leader and Hambantota District parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa last week volunteered to take over the UNP leadership and show his party the winning way. Sajith, after the UNP’s latest defeat, said that he could resurrect the party and take UNP to victory if he is made the leader.

He too had reasons to make such an open claim after most victorious UNP candidates acknowledged him after securing enough preferential votes to get into Central and North Western Provincial Councils.

J.C. Aluwatuwala, who headed the UNP’s list with 23,960 preferential votes from Kurunegala District called Sajith to thank the son of former President R. Premadasa. He said it was due to Sajith’s presence that he and the UNP polled even that number of votes. Former Opposition leader of Wayamba Prasanna Samal Senarath, known to be a confidant of Ranil, polled only 21,958 preferential votes to finish second.

From the UNP’s point of view, what was evident at Central and North Western Provincial Council election result was the fate of Ranil loyalists. Most of the Ranil loyalists who opposed Sajith not only failed to secure the top slots but also failed to win seats in the respective Provincial Councils.

Sajith volunteers to lead UNP

Almost all the front runners who supported Sajith performed creditably to secure seats while Ranil-loyalists made a sad exit. The most notable feature was that five UNP candidates from Kurunegala district and four candidates from Puttalam district who conducted their campaigns under the blessings of Sajith were elected with sufficient number of preferential votes.

Similarly, four UNP candidates from Kandy district and three candidates from Matale who were ardent supporters of Sajith too fared well to secure seats in the Central Provincial Council.

In contrast, veteran UNP candidates who are confidants of Ranil suffered setbacks. Opposition leader of former North Central Provincial Council Shamal Senerath was pushed to the second place in the Kurunegala district UNP list by Sajith-loyalist J.C. Alawathuwala. Former UNP member of the Central Provincial Council and the chairperson of UNP’s women’s wing Lak Wanitha, Shanthini Kongahage failed to retain her seat.

Even a candidate fielded by a youth wing leader who supports Ranil to challenge Dayasiri from Paduwasnuwara - Sanjaya Athugala, suffered a humiliating defeat with only 6,864 votes to be placed 26th in the UNP list from Kurunegala district.

The UNP, compared to the 2009 Provincial Council election polled 109,646 votes less at last weekend’s elections. UNP fared no better in the Central Province – slumping to 24.21 percent from its 2009 PC election percentage of 28.07.

UNP Chairman Gamini Jayawickrema Perera has openly admitted that Dayasiri’s departure from the UNP was a costly for the party. He said that Dayasiri’s crossover was a big bonus for the Government as he was one of the most popular parliamentarians in the UNP.

Wigneswaran stranded in Vavuniya

Northern Province Chief Minister elect C.V. Wigneswaran was left stranded for around three hours on Monday night at a Vavuniya fuel station where diesel had been pumped to his vehicle instead of petrol while he was returning to Colombo after a meeting in Jaffna, sources said.

They said the vehicle carrying Mr. Wigneswaran along with MP A. Sumanthiran and Saravana Bhavan and arrived at the fuel station around 9 pm for refueling.

At the fuel station, the vehicle had accidentally been refueled with diesel instead of petrol by an employee. A mechanic had to be called in to rectify the matter after realising that the wrong fuel was pumped.

However, after repairing the petrol tank of the vehicle, the group had resumed their journey to Colombo past midnight

UPFA candidate Anuradha Jayaratne, son of Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne gained the highest preference votes in the Kandy District with 107,644 votes. Former Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake has obtained 70,171 votes and Thilina Tennakoon received 45,060 votes.

Harin hints on UNP changes

Ranil is following his uncle and former President J. R. Jayewardene’s tactics when it comes to crunch situations. Knowing only too well how the reformists would intensify their campaign to bring Sajith to the UNP leadership, Ranil was quick to react through his confidants that the UNP would make vital changes to win future elections. But the only change he has made so far was re-accommodating former UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya to the party’s Working Committee.

But UNP parliamentarian Harin Fernando said that the party would undergo significant changes. “Senior party members including the party leader hasve sought our ideas as to the changes that the party should be subjected to. We hope these changes will be introduced at the next working committee meeting on October 7,” he was quoted as saying.

As usual, he put the blame on the Government to cover up UNP’s defeat. He claimed that a “group carrying out contracts on behalf of the government” is obstructing UNP attempts to rise up.

“Unless this matter is resolved, we won’t be able to stand up as a party even if a new leader is appointed”, Harin said in a desperate move to protect Ranil’s position.

At the same time, he paid a tribute to his former fellow UNP parliamentarian Dayasiri. “I congratulate Dayasiri on his victory at a time when members of government, his new party, and the opposition were trying to undermine his political campaign.

I have no personal dispute with him. Whatever I did was with the intention of protecting the UNP,” he said.

Attanayake acknowledges UNP’s setbacks

Meanwhile, the country’s main Opposition UNP said it had suffered a setback at Saturday’s Provincial Council Elections but would use the results to review its stand and strengthen the party.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told journalists that his party had suffered a setback but one had to accept that the ruling party had also suffered a somewhat similar fate. In a desperate attempt to justify the UNP’s defeat, Tissa said the UPFA had lost a seat in the Kurunegala District compared to the 2009 elections.

He recalled that the UPFA got 24 seats in Kurunegala in 2009 but only 23 seats in the district this time around, reducing its percentage of votes to 69 per cent compared to more than 70 per cent it had secured in 2009. He said the situation was the same with regard to the Kandy District where the government had got only 16 seats compared to 18 in 2009. In the Matale district he said the ruling party’s percentage had dropped to 59 percent from the 68 per cent in 2009.

24 former members lose at PC polls

Twenty four members who had been members of the previous Central and North Western Provincial Councils lost their seats. Among them were 24 from the UPFA, six from the UNP, two from the SLMC and one from the JVP.

Eleven close relatives of veteran politicians and ministers, including the son of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne have been elected to Provincial Councils. Anuradha Jayaratne, the son of the Prime Minister, polled the highest number of preferential votes in the UPFA list from the Kandy district to the Central Provincial Council.

Meanwhile, chairman of the TNA-run Werugal Pradeshiya Sabha was arrested on Friday evening on charges of fraud. P police said that he was arrested for producing a dud cheque of Rs. 500,000 to a lorry driver who undertook a contract to provide soil to build a playground for a school in the area last year. The suspect was produced in the Muttur Magistrates Court and was released with two sureties of Rs. 200,000.

Movement to protect Ranil

Ranil loyalists had a secret meeting in Colombo last week to face future challenges from their Reformists group and rebel parliamentary group headed by Sajith.

“If they level allegations against out leader for letting Dayasiri to quit, we must ask them to prove the same through Sajith. We must give an oppetunity to Sajith to quit from the Parliament and contest the next Southern Provincial Council as the UNP’s chief ministerial candidate. If Sajith is more popular, he should be able to lead UNP to victory by polling more preferential votes than Dayasiri,” a Ranil loyalist proposed and the others unanimously agreed for the timely proposal which will fix Sajith.

“Sajith has claimed that he could lead the party to victory if he is given an opportunity. We must put the ball on his courts now! We must give him a chance to become another Dayasiri in the UNP, resign from his parliamentary seat and contest the South and win with more preferential votes than Dayasiri. If he does that, we could make his the party leader,” another Ranil loyalist proposed knowing that Sajith could come nowhere close to Dayasiri’s record.

On hearing of the closed door move, UNP parliamentarian Ranjith Madduma Bandara alerted Sajith. “They are trying to name you as the UNP’s chief ministerial candidate for the South. What are you going to do?” he asked Sajith.

But Sajith immediately found that to be a fishy deal. “That is a joke. What people ask from me is to become the leader of the party, the leader of the UNP and then become the leader of the country one day.

"This is something like offering imported chewing gum to a person who wants betel,” was the immediate response from Sajith.

Death of Berty Premalal

Former North-Central Province Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake passed away at a private hospital in Colombo on Friday.

The 59-old Central Province SLFP stalwart in Rajarata passed away after surgery he underwent at the private hospital in Colombo.

He held a cabinet portfolio under the Presidency of Chanrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and held the post of Chief Minister of the province for three consecutive terms before his death. He is the father of Educations Services Minister Duminda Dissanayake and brother-in-law of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne.

Having failed to top the UPFA preferential votes list at the last Central Provincial Council election, Berty Premalal was succeeded by S.M. Ranjith as the new Chief Minister of the Central Province.

Thousands of people came to pay last respects to the late political heavyweight of Rajarata. There have been many condolence messages to his family and son – Minister Duminda, appreciating the contribution made by Berty Premalal for the people in the Central Province.

Summons on Mavai over TNA manifesto

The Supreme Court issued notice on Friday on Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Secretary General Mavai Senadhirajah to appear in court on Wednesday (3) to show cause in respect of the TNA election manifesto circulated during the recently concluded Provincial Council elections.

The Supreme Court issued this notice after considering an application filed in Court against the TNA manifesto by Attorney-at-Law Unawatuna Thotawattege Aruna Laksiri Handapangoda. The respondent cited in the petition is TNA Secretary General Mavai Senathirajah.

The petition was taken up before a three Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, Justices Sathya Hettige and Rohini Marasinghe of the Supreme Court. It was supported in the Supreme Court by the petitioner himself, when the case was called on Friday.

The petitioner had sought a court declaration that the TNA manifesto seeks to promote ‘self government’ with the end view of dividing the country. He also drew the attention of the Courts to the fact that the manifesto reflects the views expressed by the Illangei Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK). The petitioner in his submissions stated that by virtue of being a Member of Parliament, the respondent himself had sworn allegiance to the Constitution.

The TNA manifesto is in violation of Articles 1 to 8 of the Constitution. The SC has the jurisdiction to inquire into the matter, he submitted. The next call date was fixed for October 2.

President address UNGA for sixth time

President Rajapaksa addressed the 68th sessions of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last Tuesday. It was his sixth address to the UNGA since making his debut in 2006 as Sri Lanka’s Head of State. Since becoming the President in 2005 he has addressed all UN General Assemblies, except in 2009 and 2012.

Voicing concern over the growing trend of international interference in the internal affairs of developing countries in the guise of concern for security and human rights, President Rajapaksa told world leaders the time is now opportune to evaluate whether turbulent movements for political change had led to greater stability in such countries or had produced the opposite result.

“The world needs no policing by a few States, particularly when the United Nations is mandated to ensure international security through multilateral engagement,” he said, emphasising that such engagement must extend to protecting humanity against nuclear and chemical weapons.

“It is disturbing to observe the growing trend in the international arena, of interference by some, in the internal matters of developing countries, in the guise of security, and guardians of human rights. Therefore, we continue to witness agitations the world over, leading to violence and forcing political change accompanied by turmoil,” the President told the UN General Assembly on the first day of its annual General Debate in New York.