Varied views on UNP Leadership Council

By Jaliya Wijeyekoon

The United Bhikkhu Front initiated moves to salvage the UNP which has been plagued by problem after problem, mainly owing to the repeated defeats it had suffered during the past few years.

After a series of discussions with the Maha Sangha, the party hierarchy agreed on a viable and constructive proposal to appoint a Supreme Leadership Council consisting of members nominated by the party higher-ups who would wield all the powers hitherto centred around the leader of the party.

The entire membership of the party and all its stakeholders anxiously and impatiently awaited the birth of this all important Supreme Leadership Council with the fervent hope of getting a new lease of life for their grand old party.

The historic Leadership Council was formed last Monday at the party headquarters amidst a large gathering including members of the Maha Sangha. However, it is doubtful whether the desired results could be satisfactorily achieved by this council as Sajith Premadasa has withdrawn his membership from the Leadership Board, claiming that certain crucial matters agreed with the Maha Sangha have not been fulfilled. Subsequently, party stalwart Thalatha Athukorala also stepped down from the Leadership Council saying that her wish was to see a better coalition among Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya, not a mere nominal gesture to patch up the differences.

The Sunday Observer contacted some of the UNP stalwarts to seek their views on this Leadership Council with regard to the future proposals of the party. Excerpts are given below:

Imithias Bakeer Markar - Former Minister

Q: How do you view the Leadership Council which was recently formed to revitalise the party?

A: Well, the United National Party was a formidable political force in the country since its inception till about the mid-1990s. Since then, its performance as a political party has been gradually eroded at every subsequent election due to a number of reasons and at present it has been reduced to abysmal levels.

Now, we need a complete structural change of the party to revive its lost glory. The entire party membership is crestfallen with the repeated defeats of the party under the present leadership and that is why some stakeholders are accusing each other and putting forth different views.

It is doubtful whether the newly formed Leadership Council would be able to reorganise the party for victory at a future election.

The UNP is truly a democratic party and it is the duty and the obligation of the incumbent leader to follow his predecessors such as Sir John Kotelawela and Dudley Senanayake and democratic party leaders of Great Britain, Canada and Australia who had volunteered to step down from the leadership and continue in politics for the sake of their parties.

A party leader, with his close confidants, should not try to hoodwink the masses including the Maha Sangha when there is an agitation for comprehensive structural changes by the party membership itself.

Gamini Jayawickrema Perera - Former Minister, Senior Parliamentarian and Ex-Chairman of UNP

Q: Do you think your party would be driven to victory with the formation of the new Leadership Council?

A: Of course, we are very positive that the newly-formed Council, with different responsibilities wrested with every member, would help us restore the lost glory of our party. The allegation against the leader was that all powers are centred around him. Now, 90 percent of the powers have been vested with the Council and all future activities such as appointing electoral organisers and office bearers and planning election strategies and propaganda activities of the party would be handled by the Council members. We do not have divisions or factions in the party and the leader has been very flexible and cordial in these discussions with the Maha Sangha and agreed to collectively steer the party to victory at a future election.

Q: If so, what was the reason for Sajith Premadasa to step down from the Leadership Council?

A: They have had a meeting the previous evening at Ashoka Abeysinghe's residence in Kurunegala and had had some differences of opinion with regard to Working Committee matters.

However, we are trying to persuade him to cooperate with us in the Council activities and I am sure he will render his unstinted support to defeat our common enemy.

The Council members have already realised the shortcomings of everybody and now we are in the process of rectifying our lapses and we hope to launch an aggressive campaign against the Government on the high cost of living and all other people unfriendly measures taken by the Government without addressing the burning issues of the masses.

Daya Gamage - National Organiser of the UNP

Q: How do you view the recently-formed Leadership Council?

A: Well, it is definitely a step forward in the UNP victory march. Some people have been accusing the leader for not delegating responsibilities to others. With the new Leadership Council, almost all powers vested with the leader have been delegated to the members of the Council. Now everybody will have to perform their share of work without pointing accusing fingers at anybody.

All members of the Leadership Council have agreed to work as a single unit under the chairmanship of Karu Jayasuriya and we are quite confident that we could guide the party to victory at a future election.

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC - Colombo district parliamentarian

Q: What are your views about the recently-formed Leadership Council of the UNP?

A: My personal view is that it is a positive step taken to resolve the existing crisis in the party. This type of problems is quite natural in a democratic political party when it is bogged down in the Opposition for a long time. When the SLFP was in the Opposition for 17 long years, what a lot of problems did they have.

They were divided into a number of groups. However, everybody became united and returned to power in 1994. Similarly, everybody will be united and work for the victory of the UNP at a future election with the initiatives that would be taken by this Leadership Council in the near future.

Palitha Range Bandara - Puttalam district parliamentarian

Q: What are your views on the newly-formed Leadership Council?

A: It's mere eyewash - I don't think the party could be revived with this type of temporary patchwork without completely reorganising the party structure, appointing dynamic personalities to key positions.

The newly-formed Council is something like an old Chevrolet lorry fitted with a new Isuzu body.