All our top leaders have buried petty differences:

Uva polls result will mark UNP's revival

By Jaliya Wijeyekoon

Election fever is brewing up once again with the dissolution of the Uva Provincial Council last week and all major political parties are vigorously involved in the campaign to secure victory at the polls due to be held in late August or early September. The Uva election will be a test case for the two major parties, the UPFA and the UNP, since it would be the last PC election before a national election which may be held late next year. The JVP also has got a new lease of life with the results of the last election and already engaged in the campaign with various propaganda activities.

The United National Party which had remained in the opposition suffering defeat after defeat during the past several years have launched their campaign with a positive mindset and with the utmost confidence of defeating the UPFA administration in the Uva Province.

The Sunday Observer conducted an exclusive interview with the General Secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake to ascertain the preparations of his party for the Uva polls, the present political situation in the country and other related activities.

Excerpts of the interview.

Q: The Uva Provincial Council has been dissolved. How will your arrangements pose a threat to the ruling party at the polls?

A: We have been anxiously waiting for this election as we are fully confident of its victory. However, we were forced to seek legal redress over the sudden change of composition of seats in the two districts. It is simple logic that number of members in a district should be decided based on the number of registered voters and not based on the extent of the land area.

Although that was our view on this sudden change, the court has decided against it and we accept the court decision as we are a law abiding party.

Q: UPFA stalwarts say that they have already won the first round of the election campaign with the court order. Will this court decision affect the final result of the Uva Provincial election?

A: We are no longer interested in perusing the pros and cons of this change. We are only interested in fielding the best candidates who could muster the support of majority in both districts.

We are in the process of finalising the nomination list of both districts and we are pretty sure that we would be able to capture power and form a UNP council in Uva.

Q: Badulla district young parliamentarian Harin Fernando has been nominated by your party as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Uva PC elections. What was the reason for this when there are a number of senior members in the council representing the province?

A: That was a collective decision taken by all the sitting members of the council, Party Leadership Council, Nomination Board and our National Leader with the unanimous approval of the Executive committee. Harin was planing to contest as the CM candidate for Uva even well before the party decided to field him.

We are a democratic party and our firm intention is to field the best candidates who could muster the support of majority in order to form a government of ours at a future national election.

Q: Do you think that Harin made the correct political move by volunteering to contest the Uva PC polls as the CM candidate?

A: Harin is a popular, charismatic and vibrant go getter who has 100 percent self-confidence. I think with the collective support he musters with his colleagues he will emerge victorious easily in the district. In addition to our UNP vote bases in the district we had received information from various organisations and pressure groups from sometime ago that they would support the party in the event of Harin's candidature as the CM is confirmed.

Q: Harin had laid down certain conditions to the party hierarchy to contest as the chief ministerial candidate? Has the party hierarchy agreed to all that?

A: Not that he had laid down conditions, but he had made certain requests from our leaders and everybody had agreed to render their fullest support to the campaign at Uva.

Q: As the General Secretary of the party can you honestly say that your internal conflicts among the top leaders of the party have been sorted out?

A: I am surprised at your question. All our top leaders have buried the petty differences that they had sometime ago and today, everybody is working as a single unit with the firm conviction of retrieving the lost glory of our party at a future election.

Q: Will Harin Fernando get the support of the dissident group members of the party for his polls campaign?

A: As I told you earlier there are no groups or factions in our party. Our National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya, Former Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa and all other front runners of the party will jointly and individually engaged in the election campaign in Uva to support Harin and the team to form a UNP regime at Uva PC for the next term.

We are pretty sure that the results of Uva PC election will mark the beginning of the collapse of this government.

Q: Have you completed the party re-organisation activities in all electorates?

A: We have already completed the re-organisational activities in the Uva province. Appointed electoral organisers to all 13 electorates in the province. They have carried out re-structural activities in respect of forming youth leagues, branch units and Lak Vanitha units to encourage the grassroot level membership of the party.

We have also enrolled an unprecedented number of new members to the party in both districts of Uva province.

Q: What would be your main political strategy or political theme to garner the support for the party at the PC polls?

A: It is not possible for me to disclose all our political strategies immediately to the media. But our main theme or the slogan would be Bala Peraliyata Kola Eliyak based on Jana Jaya concept.

Our National Leader is involved at present in a countrywide campaign in appointing Booth Organisers for all polling booths in the country. Their main duty would be to encourage all voters in the area to cast their vote on the election day and to ensure that a minimum of 500 votes are cast for the party.

It has been observed in the past that the percentage of votes cast was not satisfactory.

People refrained from voting mainly due to lethargic attitude of provincial politicians and negative propaganda of our party by unscrupulous bankrupt political elements. We have identified our lapses in the past and shall not leave any room for similar repetitions in any future election.

Q: Who would be mainly in charge of the Uva election campaign?

A: We have already nominated 13 young Provincial Councillors to head the election campaign in all 13 electorates in the province. They will work hand in hand with all candidates in the province following the instructions given to them by the party headquarters. They are free to resort to their political strategies and tactics to woo the support for the party.

In addition to that our party top leaders will address major rallies in all electorates in the province.

We also will have an election propaganda assessment team who would constantly monitor the performances of candidates and provide them with necessary instructions.

Q: Do you consider that this Uva PC election is crucial in the political fabric of the country, hence you hope to put your fullest weight to secure victory?

A: Of course yes. As I told you earlier the results of this election will undoubtedly prove the imminent defeat of the government at the next national election, be it Presidential or General.

Q: How can you be so confident of a victory for your party at a future election when the government is forging ahead with its mega development projects such as expressways, harbours, airports, power generation plants and sky-scrapers?

A: Yes, we are not against development projects. But what is the percentage of the public who are directly benefited by these massive investments.

Q: What is your party's stand on the UNHRC allegations against the country?

A: We had very clearly stated our stand over and over again to the government. If the government had complied by the LLRC recommendations at the correct time this problem wouldn't have got so aggravated.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen and now the pressure is more. But it is still not too late for the government to listen to the local diplomatic intellectuals who are broad minded and seek their views to counter their allegations.

Q: Why doesn't your party take part in the Select Committee and help the government to arrive at a moderate and viable solution to this long drawn problem?

A: We, as a responsible Opposition are ever prepared to make our contribution in seeking a permanent solution to the problem.

But we have experienced over and over again that the government is not seriously interested in getting our participation in the Select Committee.

Q: How do you view the recent circular issued by the government to all NGOs and INGOs restricting their activities in the country?

A: There are a large number of INGOs and NGOs registered in the country and most of them are genuinely involved in the accomplishment of social services in education, health, poverty alleviation and social integration.

There could be a small number who trespass their boundaries and work on their personal agendas. Government should have identified them and taken remedial measures to curb such practices.