Behind Closed Doors

Rajapaksa suffers from selective memory loss

by Rasputin

It’s official: former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now suffering from selective memory loss.

Speaking to a group of reporters at his adopted official chambers, the Abhayaramaya, on Friday, Rajapaksa said he never asked for nomination from President Maithripala Sirisena to contest the forthcoming election under the SLFP ticket. This remark came in the wake of reports claiming that President Sirisena had firmly denied requests to grant nomination to the former President.

There were two formal requests to grant nomination to Mahinda Rajapaksa and his supporters to contest the Parliamentary election. The first request came when a delegation led by the former President met President Maithripala Sirisena in the Parliamentary complex for what seemed to be ‘peace negotiations’. Granting nominations to the group supporting the former President and naming Rajapaksa the Prime Ministerial candidate of the SLFP were the two main requests put forward by the pro-Rajapaksa group.

The President shot down all the former leader’s Prime Ministerial hopes saying the party would not name a Prime Ministerial candidate before the election. The final decision on nominations, he said, would be made by the party at the right time with the consent of the Central Committee.

The second request came at a UPFA meeting last week where President Maithripala Sirisena firmly said he would not grant nomination to the former President to contest the election. At the same time, he also criticized the conduct of some party seniors who were sympathetic towards Rajapaksa and his family members. A day after the meeting, a group of UPFA seniors, including its General Secretary Susil Premajayantha, conveyed this message to the former President.“I knew he would not give me nomination. But, I will contest the election,” Rajapaksa had declared in response to the President’s reported remarks. Over the past few days, Rajapaksa gave several indications that he had prepared his mind to contest the Parliamentary election under a separate political party.

It was against this backdrop that the former President suddenly announced that he had never asked for nominations from the President to contest the election. Clearly, the election nomination papers have now become sour grapes for the former President who once led his party with an iron fist.

SLFP crisis deepens: Premajayantha first to go

Although President Maithripala Sirisena has consolidated his power in the SLFP Central Committee, the party’s divisions are widening with a group of seniors aligning themselves with the pro-Rajapaksa campaign.

Among them are UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha and SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa. Internal ‘intelligence units’ have informed the President that the two General Secretaries are likely to support the pro-Rajapaksa group when it comes to nominations. It is in this context that President Sirisena has decided to replace the two General Secretaries ahead of a crucial national level election. Party sources told the Sunday Observer that Susil Premajayantha will be the first to be replaced and S.B. Dissanayake will be appointed as the new General Secretary of the UPFA. Dissanayake was the General Secretary of the party before Maithripala Sirisena and he ended his tenure as the General Secretary by joining the UNP ahead of the General election in 2001.

Therefore, the move to appoint Dissanayake as the General Secretary of the coalition has raised eyebrows of some.

As an alternative, some groups have proposed that President appoint a young and dynamic politician as the General Secretary of the UPFA.

Some SLFP seniors have also requested the party leader to replace Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, the General Secretary of the party, on the grounds that he too is ‘flirting’ with the pro-Rajapaksa camp. Rajitha Senaratne and Janaka Bandara Tennakoon have been proposed as potential candidates for the General Secretary post of the SLFP.Another problem looming over Yapa is the corruption charges that have been levelled against him. Informed sources told the Sunday Observer that anti-corruption bodies, including the Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division, are investigating serious allegations against the SLFP General Secretary.

Elephant in the (Board) room

Lanka Hospitals (Pvt) Limited has never failed to draw the attention of political bigwigs over the past few years.

In the past it was under the influence of a powerful official who had immense political clout derived from his family.

Many thought political influence would be over when the former first family lost its power at the last presidential election.

However, an interesting development took place at a recent board meeting of Lanka Hospitals.

A political bigwig of the Jumbo camp walked into the meeting and dictated terms to its directors, giving a strong indication that the ‘political jinx’ still haunts Lanka Hospitals administration.

Anyone wants to guess who this jumbo politician is?

Will Namal live up to his statement?

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa’s Carlton Sports Club has also come under the ‘microscope’ of anti - corruption bodies in connection with Kandy Night Races organized by the sports club. Highly placed sources of the Police FCID told the Sunday Observer that top officials of the sports club will be summoned before the unit as part of the investigations.

The Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is to launch investigations into Carlton Sports Club over some ‘misplaced’ high voltage bulbs belonging to the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium. The value of the misplaced bulbs stands at Rs. 6 million.

The bulbs had been obtained by Carlton Sports Club for night races in Kandy, last year. They had not been returned to the international cricket stadium by the sports club after the event.Posting a statement on his official Facebook page, Namal Rajapaksa said he, as a politician, was not afraid to go before anti-corruption bodies.

The investigation into Carlton Sports Club will give him an opportunity to live up to his statement.