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| Sunday, 18 April 2004 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 UNP in flux The UNP reeling under the ignominious April 2nd debacle is reported to be in a state of flux and confusion, its mighty back broken. The UNP leader has been holding a post mortem into the general election whitewash for several days, according to reports and what has surfaced is that the crushing defeat was due to many many reasons. They include the high cost of living, large scale corruption, insensitivity to public opinion, the Treasury not releasing funds for development work, the weak-kneed approach to blatant violations of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the LTTE, including the turning of a blind eye to arms smuggling, the Athurugiriya Safehouse Fiasco, the disastrous Income Tax Amnesty Act, not being attuned to the aspirations of the people, the impact of the claimed economic revival not reflecting on the incomes of the masses and a total disregard of the high rate of lawlessness, the misconduct of nouveau rich Ministers' sons involved in gun toting, running riot and terrorising guests at night clubs. one of the more important charges was that the Media Unit had failed miserably. It spewed out utter bilge under the direction of a tin can rattling lawyer journalist who tried to be a media czar. This man was kicked out, while the UNP leader's post mortem was still on. He has been replaced reportedly by a notorious double agent who served as a UNP mole in the PA administration. Of all these charges, the most serious is that the leadership was very weak, inefficient and vacillating. It had only one answer, "Wait till we give you a permanent peace." And the people would have had to wait 'till the cows come home' if the UNP continued in government. Those NGO polls pundits who claimed their opinion polls showed the people felt the UNP or UNF or whatever, had handled the peace process and the economy well, have to do a lot of munching in eating their own words. For, these claims were shot down by the electorate, the voter in no uncertain terms. Senior UNPers have also claimed that the party is run by a coterie of old school pals, some of whom know as much about politics as the mythical man on the moon. This pukka sahib club cloistered in ivory towers, who led the UNP have come in for sharp criticism from the rank and file who are clamouring for their removal from the high positions they held in the party. To add to all this, there came the thunderbolt hurled with telling accuracy at UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by former Foreign Minister and UNP stalwart Tyronne Fernando, who was dropped from the National List. An angry Fernando, who had stood stoic by his leader when there were strong moves to oust Wickremesinghe, claimed the UNP had gone to the dogs, what with the likes of S. B. Dissanayake being made National Organiser. Dissanayake who according to Fernando had forecast a runaway UNP victory with wins in 16 of the 22 districts, when in fact the party won only four. In a telling indictment on the leadership Fernando, whose forced retirement from Parliament comes after 27 years as an MP claimed the UNP promoted the interests of big business and a mafia totally ignoring the others. He severely condemned the despicable behaviour of those errant UNP Ministers whose insulting behaviour towards the President at Cabinet meetings, was deplorable. The UNP is in a terribly bedraggled, debilitated state and needs a major overhaul, if it is to come back into reckoning. |
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