The MR nomination saga

Sunday Politics with Rasika Jayakody

The much-talked-about meeting at the Medamulana residence to announce former President Rajapaksa’s entry into the electoral fray ended up as a disappointment for the pro-MR camp due to multiple reasons.

The Medamulana meeting on July 1 was designed as the official launch of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election campaign. A few days prior to the meeting, stalwarts of the Rajapaksa camp told the media that nearly 100 MPs would flank the former President at the meeting where he was expected to announce his entry into the Parliamentary election.

Buses were arranged from various parts of the country to Medamulana, allowing Rajapaksa supporters to visit the ancestral home of their leader to witness what they termed as the ‘historic announcement’. An unexpected visitor who was no alien to the country’s political fold arrived at Rajapaksa’s house to show his support to the former President with whom he had a love-hate relationship over the past 15 years. He was none other than former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, a vociferous critique of Rajapaksa before the last presidential election.

The former Chief Justice’s arrival at the Medamulana residence was greeted with mixed reactions by Rajapaksa supporters. Former UPFA Parliamentarian Duminda Silva too was seen at the bana ceremony held at the Medamulana residence.

“We already have Sarath N Silva and Duminda Silva. We only need Mervyn Silva and Freddy Silva,” a staunch supporter of the former President told one of his colleagues, expressing displeasure over the former Chief Justice’s arrival.

They were of the belief that the former Chief Justice chose to switch side on the basis that he was not appointed for any recognised position by the new government, despite his support for common candidate Maithripala Sirisena before the election. However, the 100 MPs who were expected for the meeting did not turn up. According to those who attended the meeting, only 30 MPs attended the event on Wednesday much to the disappointment of the Rajapaksa camp. That disappointment was reflected in the facial expressions of the former President as he didn’t look confident when he made the speech.

Although he read the statement from the teleprompter, he made a serious blunder when he mentioned former MP T.B. Ekanayake’s name. He referred to him as T.B. Illangaratne, a stalwart of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party who died 23 years years ago. While referring to Prasanna Ranatunga, he said, “the Ranatunga family always stood by me.” Rajapaksa forgot that Arjuna, a sibling of Prasanna, was instrumental in the Presidential campaign of the common opposition. When reminded of Arjuna Ranatunga, Rajapaksa covered his blunder saying, “I was referring to Prasanna Ranatunga’s family!”.

None of the heavyweights of the SLFP- including SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha and Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva - were present at the Medamulana rally, despite widespread speculation. When contacted by MPs of the Rajapaksa group, they said they were busy at the SLFP headquarters, finalising nominations. However, the low turnout of MPs for the Medamulana meeting came as a disappointment not only for the former President but also for his supporters.

History of ‘Medamulana tree’

The place where the former President made his statement also drew parallels with history. Rajapaksa made his speech on a makeshift stage under the huge tree in the garden of his Medamulana residence. It was under the same tree that his father, former Minister D.A. Rajapaksa, made a statement before his voters before the General election in March, 1960, saying he would contest under the MahajanaEksathPeramuna ticket. At the election, Rajapaksa contested from the MEP, led by Philip Gunawardena, and not from the SLFP of which he was a founding member. The results of the March 1960 Beliatta electorate was D. P. Atapattu (UNP-Elephant) 14,379 votes and D. A. Rajapaksa (MEP-cartwheel) 12,685 votes. Five others polled less than 500 votes. However, just four months later, at the election held in July, 1960, Rajapaksa, contesting from the SLFP, managed to turn the tables on D.P. Atapattu, becoming the MP of the Beliatta electorate.

When Rajapaksa made his statement under the same tree, resembling his father, Philip Gunawardena’s son Dinesh Gunawardena, Leader of the MEP, was standing alongside him. At that point, some even believed that Rajapaksa might have to contest under the MEP ticket as there were serious doubts about his candidacy from the UPFA.

It is interesting to investigate the circumstances leading to Rajapaksa’s statement on Wednesday.

It was on Monday that negotiations started between the President and seniors of the UPFA over granting nomination to the former President and avoiding a split in the party before the election. During the discussion held between President Maithripala Sirisena, SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha, the President said he had no issue with giving nomination to the former President to contest the election as a normal candidate. He did not give any undertaking on naming him as the Prime Ministerial candidate. However, the President also communicated to the SLFP seniors that concerns raised by certain sections of the SLFP should be taken into consideration when taking a final decision on the former President’s candidacy.

The report drafted by the six-member committee to promote cooperation in the SLFP was also handed over to the President on Monday. The committee, headed by former Parliamentarian John Seneviratne, comprised six members who were openly supportive of Rajapaksa. In their recommendations, they stressed that Rajapaksa should actively participate in the election campaign of the party and he should be given the opportunity to lead the UPFA candidates. However, there was no direct recommendation to make him the Prime Ministerial candidate of the UPFA. The committee arrived at its conclusions following several rounds of discussions between the incumbent President and the former President.

Lengthy negotiations with MR and MS

Following the meeting with the President, de Silva, Premajayantha and Yapa left for Kandy to meet the former President. They had to meet the former President in Kandy as the latter was taking part in a series of religious events and meetings in the hill country.

The meeting was held at former Parliamentarian Lohan Ratwatte’s residence in Kandy. The meeting was not open to the media and journalists were asked to wait outside Ratwatte’s house till the end of the discussion. During the meeting, the SLFP seniors conveyed President Sirisena’s opinion to the former President and asked whether he was willing to accept the offer.Rajapaksa said he wanted more time to think through the proposal before giving a final word. This discussion took place on Tuesday, barely 24 hours before the meeting held at Medamulana.

After this discussion, Rajapaksa had another meeting with his close associates to decide the manner in which he should respond to the offer. The group identified several ‘risks’ associated with President Sirisena’s offer.

Their first concern was that the proposal for Prime Ministerial candidacy for Rajapaksa had been turned down by President Sirisena and he had only agreed to give nomination to contest as an ordinary candidate. Some of them were of the view that a former President, who held the office twice, should not contest as a mere candidate at a Parliamentary election.

On the other hand, there was no assurance about giving nomination to the close allies of Rajapaksa, including Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila. Unlike Dinesh Gunawardena and Vasudeva Nanayakkara, they were not stakeholders of the UPFA as they only had electoral agreements with the coalition. As there was no guarantee about giving nominations to the close allies of Rajapaksa, they had concerns whether the former President would be ‘isolated’ in his election campaign.

The district from which Rajapaksa should contest was another unresolved issue. He could not contest from the Hambanthota district, the traditional stronghold of the Rajapaksa family, as his son, Namal Rajapaksa, had applied for nomination from the same district.

Previously, Rajapaksa had expressed willingness to contest from Ratnapura or Kurunegala districts. However, some SLFP leaders of the two districts had not responded to this proposal favourably. Another option for him was to contest from the Gampaha where his sibling, Basil Rajapaksa, was the district leader.

MR group fears CBK’s role

The next concern was the role that former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga would play in the election campaign of the party. They feared that Kumaratunga would launch an internal campaign in the party against Rajapaksa if the latter contested the election from the UPFA. They could not find clear answers to any of those questions before Wednesday and as a result, there was a strong sense of uncertainty by the time Rajapaksa made his much talked about statement. Although he said he would contest the election, a surfeit of issues was bothering Rajapaksa’s mind when he delivered the speech.

After the meeting between the former President and the SLFP seniors, former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, a supporter of Rajapaksa, addressed the media in Kandy stating that the former President would contest and lead the UPFA group at the election. Rambukwella said that was the outcome of the meeting between President Sirisena and the SLFP seniors. It was quite evident that Rambukwella, who was not accommodated in the UNP, had become a Rajapaksa supporter and he was echoing the sentiments of the Rajapaksa camp. The former Minister’s statement gave the indication that the Rajapaksa camp was trying to make the former President the ‘de facto’ Prime Ministerial candidate by calling him the leader of the UPFA group. No such ‘group leaders’ existed in the UPFA when it ran for elections in the past.

Rambukwella’s statement necessitated President Maithripala Sirisena to issue a statement to state his position on the matter. Soon after Rambukwella addressed the press in Kandy, the President’s Media Unit issued a press communique stating President Sirisena did not agree to name the former President as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the party. The statement said no candidate was named as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the party and if the UPFA won the election, the Prime Minister would be appointed after the election based on the preference of the MPs. It indirectly stated that the appointment of the Prime Minister of the new Parliament would be at the sole discretion of the President. The President’s statement put a damper on the plans of the Rajapaksa camp.

Meanwhile, another group of SLFP MPs were disgruntled over the move to give nomination to the former President. They were the ones who supported President Sirisena before the last Presidential election, risking not only their political careers but also their lives. They also met President Sirisena at his Colombo residence to express their displeasure and disappointment over the move. Some of them, including Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, had threatened to join the UNP if the former President was given nomination.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike too fired a salvo at Rajapaksa’s move saying she would enter the election fray from the Gampaha district, if the candidates defeated at elections attempted to contest the election. Former Preident Kumaratunga made this statement through her Secretary P. Dissanayake. The Secretary said Kumaratunga received a number of requests from the party to contest the election, but refused.

“Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga swept the 1994 general election by a securing 63 percent of the votes and never faced any election defeat throughout in office,” he said.

“She may contest the upcoming election from the Gampaha district most probably. We are not in a hurry to announce the district from which she plans to contest,” he said adding that Kumaratunga was a ‘clean politician’.

President’s meeting with UPFA leaders

It was against this backdrop that President Maithripala Sirisena met party leaders and representatives of the UPFA on Thursday evening to discuss nominations.

At the meeting, the vexed question of Rajapaksa’s nomination was raised by constituent parties of the UPFA. The President, as the UPFA Chairman, asked his party leaders to present their viewpoints on the matter. The large majority of them were of the view that the former President should be given an opportunity to contest as there was a “strong demand” from the grassroots level.

However, President Sirisena indicated that he was not inclined to give nomination to the former President as minorities, civil society representatives and intellectuals had raised concern over the matter. Towards, the end of the meeting, the President said he would announce his final decision on Friday, after consulting several parties.

While President Sirisena met UPFA party leaders, Rajapaksa held another discussion with a group of SLFP MPs supporting him at his Mirihana residence. The discussion mainly focused on formulating a “Plan B” in the face of a possible rejection of UPFA nominations. As the plan ‘B’, they explored the possibility of contesting under the ‘Mahajana Eksath Peramuna’ with the symbol ‘wheel’. Dinesh Gunawardena, a stalwart of the Rajapaksa camp, is the present Leader of the MEP. They thought contesting under the MEP was a viable option as the SLFP coalesced with the MEP to form a government in 1956 under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

On Thursday night, there was another important meeting at UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha’s private residence.

It was attended by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his sibling, former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Even though Basil Rajapaksa did not look like a front-runner of the Rajapaksa campaign his presence in the meeting held at Premajayantha’s residence showed that the former Minister was very much involved in the ‘backroom negotiations’. The meeting clearly demonstrated that Premajayantha’s real allegiance lay with the Rajapaksa camp and he was very keen on accommodating the former President on the UPFA list.

Susil Premajayantha’s jugglery

Lengthy negotiations took place on Friday between SLFP and UPFA seniors over the matter and the pendulum swung in various directions. In the morning, it appeared as if President Sirisena was determined to prevent Rajapaksa from contesting under the UPFA ticket.

The pro-Rajapaksa group organised a press conference at the Abhayaramaya on Friday morning to officially announce the political front from which the former President would contest. As the group was perplexed over the outcome of the discussions between SLFP seniors, the press conference was postponed till 4 o clock in the evening. Two hours before the press conference, former UPFA parliamentarian Manusha Nanayakkara told a group of his journalist-friends that the former President would contest under the UPFA and it was finalized. Within a few minutes, there was a press statement from UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha stating that the President agreed to give nomination to the former President to contest from the UPFA.

The statement was signed by Premajayantha, in his capacity as the UPFA General Secretary, and it was later revealed that the he signed it at the SLFP headquarters. SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and former Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath were also with him when he signed the statement announcing Rajapaksa’s candidature. There were serious questions whether the press statement was authorised by the UPFA Chairman.

Facebook debate

Be that as it may, President Sirisena came under a lot of criticism, especially in social media, over Premajayantha’s statement on Rajapaksa receiving nomination. Especially, those who supported the President before January 8 election expressed their disappointment and frustration over the move.

However, two statements by Uva Province Chief Minister Harin Fernando and Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva on their official Facebook pages drew a lot of attention on Friday night.

“Maithripala won’t stab 6.2 million Sri Lankans in the back. I still have faith in my President. He will do the right thing. Show me that boss!,” the Deputy Minister said on his official Twitter page on Friday.

“Once again it’s time to find the truth and what we believe in our self rather than personal glory ; partly worried if we have been betrayed but I believe no one could fall that low since I wouldn’t stoop to that level. We all may know the truth soon at least by tomorrow, till then stay calm I will stick to my decision because it’s not worth being in politics if people can be this crazy. Either way I believe MS has a plan and a few can enjoy paste posters light fireworks and rejoice at the opportunity of bringing in the ruthless dictator.

“I’m sure the majority, like on January 8, wouldn’t approve of his return let’s watch the next 24 hours but higher you jump the harder you come down I think the MR supporters are in for a rude shock.

Let’s watch. I will not be interested in politics any more if MS can change the people’s verdict for personal benefit. I still believe this is impossible but life is full of surprises and I hope this is not such an event.” Fernando said in a statement on his Facebook page which went viral on Friday night.

President unaware of Premajayantha’s move

Meanwhile, a popular website supportive of President Sirisena revealed that the President was not aware of the press statement issued by Premajayantha. The website said the President had made this revelation in a telephone conversation with Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera on Friday evening. Although the Sunday Observer attempted to contact Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera on Saturday to ascertain the veracity of the story, our efforts did not bear fruit.

In an interesting turn of events, Ports and Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, on his official Facebook page, said that the press statement was not approved by President Sirisena and it was sent at the sole discretion of the General Secretary.

Ranatunga said that Sirisena refused to sign the original copy of the statement. Therefore, Premajayantha released a different copy with his signature, Ranatunga said.

The former parliamentarian and the SLFP Organiser for Atanagalle claimed that Premajayantha made this announcement since he was blackmailed by certain parties by threatening to reveal documents relating to a fraudulent transaction during the Rajapaksa regime.

He added that if the UPFA is to give nomination to Rajapaksa, the SLFP, the main stakeholder of the coalition, also has to approve it. “However, neither Maithripala Sirisena nor the former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has given any approval, “ Ranatunga pointed out. He also added that this decision was taken by Dinesh Gunawardena, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Udaya Gammanpila, Wimal Weerawansa and others.

Meanwhile, a group of SLFP MPs who supported President Sirisena at the Presidential election, have already discussed the possibility of forming an anti-Rajapaksa front under the Swan symbol. A former Parliamentarian involved in the move told the Sunday Observer that over 30 MPs of the SLFP will join hands with the Swan front under the leadership of former President Kumaratunga. “But,” he said, “we will only make a final decision after observing developments in the party. At this point, we are only exploring options.”

However, it is still too early to jump into conclusions over the matter. What has already been issued is a press release stating the President had agreed to give nomination to Mahinda Rajapaksa. The President is yet to issue a statement or many any public announcement whether he is in agreement with the statement. On the other hand, Rajapaksa is yet to sign nomination papers to contest from the UPFA. His district is yet to be finalised as he will not be able to contest from the Hambanthota district. Whether Rajapaksa allies will receive nomination from the UPFA still remains a question. Therefore, the issue surrounding the former President’s nomination is still very far from a final settlement.