Problems among top UNP leaders a thing of the past:

We are confident of winning Uva - Harin Fernando

By Jaliya Wijeyekoon

The Provincial Council (PC) system was introduced under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1987 during the former president J.R. Jayawardene's egime with the signing of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord as a solution to the long drawn problem of the Northern and Eastern people.

However the desired results were not achieved by the first North. East PC which had only a short life span and functioned under the leadership of Varadaraja Perumal who later went against the Central government and finally the council had to be dissolved. SLFP and JVP rejected the PC system when it was introduced and refrained from even contesting the elections in 1987.

The PC system has now taken firm root in all provinces and all main political parties are interested in securing power in PCs. Provincial Councils are now considered to be the spring board for national politicians and a large number of parliamentarians have entered parliament having launched their political career as Provincial Councillors.

During the first few terms the elections for all PCs were held together but after the present government came into power they started to hold the elections on staggered basis and elections have been held for all provinces for the current term sometimes even ahead of the due date and only the Uva Province is yet to be dissolved.

The government has decided to dissolve the Uva Provincial Council by next week and the election will be held in late August. All the main political parties are already busy with choosing formidable candidates to vie for the fray as it will be the last provincial election prior to a national election which could be held probably late next year.

The United National Party which has suffered defeat after defeat for the past number of years, has got a new lease of life with the formation of the eadership Council and their vibrant reorganisational activities, are quite confident of winning the forthcoming Uva PC elections.

The Sunday Observer had an exclusive interview with the Badulla district young parliamentarian Harin Fernando to ascertain the party activities and their preparation for the forthcoming elections in the Uva Province.

Excerpts of the interview:.

Q: Your party has governed the country a number of times since independence under different leaders and rendered a great service to the nation. But since 2004 your party's performance had been very poor at every successive election. What is the reason for this gradual deterioration of the party?

A: Yes, my party had governed the country for over three decades at ifferent times since independence under the able leaders such as D.S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, Sir John Kothalawaka, J.R. Jayawardene,

Ranasinghe Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe and rendered a yeoman service to the nation. All of them worked for the socio-economic development of the ountry whilst fostering religious, cultural and social values and stablishing inter-communal harmony and maintaining cordial international elations.

However as you said, its true that our party has experienced a lean period or a number of years. The main reason behind our failure was none other than the atrocities committed by ruthless LTTE in eliminating all our minent leaders. We were the only democratic party which suffered most at the hands of the Tigers.

In the 2005 Presidential elections the LTTE didn't allow the Tamil people to vote which resulted in UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe losing the election by a wafer-thin margin.

Then the Mahinda Rajapaksa government decided to crush the LTTE terrorism militarily which they achieved in 2009. Following the eradication of terrorism it was just a cake walk for Mahinda Rajapaksa to retain presidency at the subsequent Presidential election in 2010 as people voted for him irrespective of party policies.

Five years have lapsed since the eradication of terrorism and the political landscape of the country had now taken a different turn as we feel that some of the burning issues of the people have not been addressed. Hence we are confident of forming a UNP regime at the next national election.

Q: Your party is riddled with internal conflicts and a number of divisions and the general belief is that the UNP cannot challenge the UPFA even at a future election. Your comments please?

A: Yes, we had some problems among our top leaders in the past and now we have sorted out most of them. Now everybody is working hard with the firm intention of toppling the government at the next national election. We are a democratic party and differences of opinions are expressed by our leaders on certain issues every now and then. It doesn't mean that they are divided or in different factions.

Please let me put the facts straight. When any top democratic party bogged down in the opposition for a long time, naturally the internal conflicts arise. Can't you remember what happened to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party from 1977-1994? It was divided into a number of groups such as Sirima group, Anura group, Maithripala group, Kobbekaduwa group and so on. Anura went to courts against Sirima to sort-out matters. SLFP headquarters was sealed for over a year SLFP was in political doldrums. Nothing of that sort has happened to our party. We know that certain politically bankrupt elements and some unscrupulous media are trying to tarnish the image of our party as they know that we are marching forward steadily at present.

Q: You have sounded your willingness to contest as the chief ministerial candidate at the forthcoming Uva PC elections. Has your party decided to field you as the CM candidate?

A: Yes, I did so with the firm intention of toppling the Uva PC at the forthcoming polls. But no final decision had been taken as yet. Whether I contest as the CM candidate or not, I shall go all out to help our andidates and win the Uva PC for our party in August. We are still in the process of screening our candidates and we shall be fielding a winning eam. It will definitely be a stepping stone for our future victory at the next national election whatever it may be.

Q: How can you be so confident of a victory for the party when the overnment is going ahead with mega development projects such as expressways, harbours, airports and so on?

A: What is the percentage of the population who are benefited by these mega development projects on which the government had squandered massive amount of funds drawn on very high interest rates? Not even 5 percent of the population. What people need most is not mega development projects but an affordable cost of living. Milk food, dry rations, and even vegetables have gone up and not only the poor people even public servants find it difficult to meet their ends.

Q: But the Central Bank reports say that they have achieved over 7% growth ate during the last two years and would continue to grow in coming years.

A: We have no faith on those facts and figures since they do not feel ny growth in their personal income and earnings.

Q: Coming back to the Uva PC elections, what is your main political strategy to garner the support for the party?

A: It is not possible to disclose all our minute details in advance.

But we will launch an aggressive election campaign to educate the public not to get hoodwinked for the false promises that the ruling party is iving. They have already started distributing roofing sheets, cement bags and dry ration packets to certain remote areas of the province.

Uva is considered to be the most under-developed province in the island compared to other provinces. UPFA has been in power in the Uva PC for the last three consecutive terms. They had not taken any concrete measures to uplift the living standard of the people or introduced any worthwhile development project to suit the geography of the province. Some innovative programs that the past UNP regime introduced had been discontinued.

Q: You are the only parliamentarian representing your party in Badulla District while Ranjith Madduma Bandara is the other solo member from Moneragala district. Do you think it is possible for you two to compete with the powerful ministers and other UPFA parliamentarians who represent both districts taking over the responsibility of making UPFA victorious at the PC polls?

A: It is true that the UPFA has a number of ministers and parliamentarians to back their election campaign. That is why I exactly say that we are going to educate the public not to get duped any further. Majority people have already realised this. We ill be fielding a very efficient, dedicated and formidable candidate from both districts who will deliver the goods.

Q: This number of members representing both districts have been revised recently based on the total number of registered voters. Will it affect the final result of your party?

A: We are not least bothered about it as we have already made the ground work for a definite victory for our party with our reorganisational activities. Our party has appointed vibrant electoral organisers for all electorates in the province and they have carried out reorganisational activities with our party branches, Lak Vanitha Units and Youth Leagues. We have already formulated our framework for the election campaign and I am quite certain hat the downfall of the UPFA regime will commence with the results of the va PC elections.

Q: Badulla district UPFA parliamentarian Uditha Lokubandara has recently said that you had negotiated with the government to crossover and contest the next general election under their banner. What have you got to say about this allegation?

A: I am a man of principles. No point in wasting my time on such statements.