No secret deal to topple Govt during budget - UNP(D)

Sunday Meeting by Shanika Sriyananda

The United National Party (Democratic Front UNP-D) said that there was no secret deal by the party for a sudden move at the budget to topple the government and the 17 members of the party would continue in the coalition under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The UNP-D heavyweight, Minister of Agriculture, Hemakumara Nanayakkara said that their coalition would last for the next 10-years and they joined the government unconditionally as their members intended to share their knowledge and experience to develop the country. "The seventeen members of our group are very strong, intelligent, educated and seasoned politicians. They are like the rock of Sigiriya in the government", he said. Minister Nanayakkara said that lots of senior UNPers were frustrated now as they had realised that their leader Ranil Wickremesignhe could never lead them to victory. "The UNP is cracking up now and we see an eruption within the party", he said.

According to Minister Nanayakkara, the Opposition Leader's nonsensical utterances have caused a tremendous negative impact on the party. "He clings on to the day-to-day affairs for his survival and he does not think nationally. It is unfortunate that he has become a laughing stock and he is responsible for weakening the UNP", he claimed. 'We are with the government.'

Following are excerpts from the interview:

Q: How do you see the present political situation in the country?

A: The present political situation is very stable. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is doing a superb job as far as the management of the country is concerned. The war situation is kept at bay and now it is the economic war that we will have to fight. The entire East has been cleared and we are very much interested in going for a negotiated settlement. And we expect Prabhakaran to lay down arms at least temporarily. Not permanently lay down their arms. We are extremely interested in developing the North and the East. We have already started our development work in the East, and in the North also we will be doing it.

Now the United National Party's (UNP's) Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe's Wing (RWW) is trying to destabilise the government. What is their grouse? It is the cost of living. Mr. Wickremesinghe, being an educated person and seasoned politician, knows that the country is fighting a war and escalation in prices of all commodities is bound to occur. The government is compelled to increase taxes on various commodities. The Treasury needs more money to fight the war. This is the simple logic. Due to that, when you impose taxes, prices go up. This is one reason. The other is that the petroleum prices are skyrocketing in the world market. We still subsidise all the petroleum products. Now superseding our subsidies the prices of crude oil are skyrocketing. They might go upto US $ 100 a barrel. So, due to this, prices cannot be controlled and it is beyond our control. Mr. RWW's Wing is desperate. They know that they cannot come to power in this country. Because of that, they are trying to kick up a row and mislead the masses in this country by saying that the prices are going up because of corruption.

In any country, there is corruption. During Mr. Wickremesinghe's time too here had been lots of corrupt practices. At that time, prime agricultural lands were sold and I personally informed this and he promised to appoint a government select committee on the issue but it never saw the light of the day.

So, corruption has been going on at different levels, sometimes by politicians, sometimes by bureaucrats and sometimes by people who have been helping the politicians. Corruption has been taking place even in Western countries. But, I am totally against this and I feel corrupt people should be tried in a court of law and they should be given the maximum punishment.

But, still for all that Mr. RW's wing is trying to show that the prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing solely due to corruption. During Mr. Wickremesinghe's time too there was corruption and price escalations were also quite evident. So, on this issue only, he is trying to destabilise the government, which he is unable to do. Now, he thinks that by getting Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriyarachchi, he would be able to make a big impact. But, nothing has happened. The only thing that has happened is that the UNP is cracking up now. We see an eruption within the UNP. Now, S. B. Disanayake has gone out of the country and is not interested in even addressing meetings. Even people such as Sajith Premadasa have openly said at the Working Committee that if the 'UNP', the name of the party and the elephant symbol are taken off, he will not be able to contest under the so called Jathika Sabha. And lots of seniors are utterly frustrated. They know that Mr. Wickremesinghe can never lead them to victory. Mr. Wickremesinghe's non-sensical utterances have caused a tremendous negative impact on our party. We still consider the UNP as our party. We have to rescue this party. The day we can have a new leader for this party we can rescue our party.

Q: Does this mean that once you have a strong leader the UNP Democratic Front is to end the coalition with the government?

A: No. What we are going to do is to continue this coalition under the leadership of President Rajapaksa as we want to develop this country. And, I think this coalition will go on at least for the next 10 years. This is the only way to develop the country. After toiling so much and after shedding so much tears and blood we finally realised that President Rajapaksa is doing a wonderful job as far as the national security and the national integrity are concerned.

What is the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) doing at the moment? One wing of the JVP promotes the idea that they should work with the government. Another wing is totally against this. Now a few frustrated people there, also want the JVP to attack the government. But, the large majority of the JVP, not only the MPs but also the members, they say that "we created the government, the government faces the war in a proper way and liberated the Eastern Province; so we must help them to do the rest through a negotiated settlement". If, Prabhakaran is not interested in peace, it is evident that there will be a war situation. When they act against the government, the government, which has a responsibility to maintain law and order of this country, will react.

Q: Are you devaluing the contribution by the JVP to bring President Rajapaksa to power?

A: A section of the JVP is on a futile exercise for mere existence it is not the whole party. I won't blame the entire party. I salute the JVP for bringing this government to power, especially, bringing President Rajapaksa to power. We did not do that and we were in the Opposition.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is fully supporting the government and only the UNP's RWW and one section of the JVP are opposing the government. Meanwhile, the JVP has categorically said that they are not interested in overthrowing the government but they have their own reasons to protest and some people got carried away with dead ropes given by Mr. Wickremesinghe. Mangala Samaraweera expected the JVP to join their bandwagon. They thought they will join a common Front. It is not happening. Because of that Mr. Wickremesinghe and Mangala are trying to campaign against the JVP.

Mr.Wickremesinghe is running the party with day to day affairs. That is why he clings to an issue. Once, he tried to raise the issue of Champika Liyanarachchi, the editor of the Daily Mirror, then that of Parameshwari, the journalist at Mawbima, then against Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera regarding the Benz car and he doesn't think nationally. He clings on to day to day affairs for his survival.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was known as Mr. Clean sometime ago. Now he has become Mr. Unclean. He has been talking about gentlemanly politics. Now, he is totally going against his former vision of gentlemanly politics. He is insulting everybody. He is reduced to a very low level in the political arena. He has become a practical joke. We cannot allow the UNP to die or degrade itself. We are interested in saving the UNP and we will do that and we will work with the present President for the betterment of the country.

Q: Are there any plans for the government to go for an early election?

A: No. The government is not planning to go for an early election. After another three years time only, there will be an election. We are 100 per cent sure that there will be a cakewalk for the government.

Q: Do you think the people in villages have confidence in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government?

A: The people in villages have lots of confidence in President Rajapaksa. According to a recent survey the most popular leader is still President Rajapaksa. I do not say that the villagers are not affected by the high Cost of Living (CoL). But mostly the lower middle class is hit by the CoL. People from all the three Forces and the Police have laid down their lives to protect this country from the terrorists. What is our contribution? Now, President Rajapaksa has taken a decision that all the Ministers have to contribute 50 per cent of their salaries. The Ministers and the MPs now get Rs. 22,000 to 25,000 a month whereas the Opposition MPs get their full salary, ie Rs. 46,000 each a month. Mr. Wickremesinghe, who talks much about sacrifices and looking after the country and the cost of living he enjoys all the privileges that is given to a Cabinet Minister. What is he talking about now? Now we have sacrificed and we are prepared to do so for the sake of the country.

Q: You were a Minister during the UNP regime too. Did you join the government because you want to be a Minister under whatever the party in power. Is this true?

A: No. It is not true. I was a Cabinet Minister under the UNP government and I was a non-Cabinet Minister and even today. I want to put the things I learnt and studied into practice. I have a BSc degree in Agriculture from the University of California and a Masters Philosophy from the University of Peradeniya. I was further engaging in studies at the time when I entered politics but I had to give it half way due to political pressure. So, whatever I learned, I am now putting into practice.

Q: How do you asses the UNP today? Do you think that the young UNPers lack proper leadership and guidance?

A: The present UNP doesn't have any kind of leadership. Mr. Wickremesinghe is a very weak leader. We - myself, Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Bandula Gunawardena - were trying to promote him. We were the key speakers during his Presidential campaign. No matter how much we spoke for him and how much we were trying to prop him up he destroyed everything, by his political weaknesses.

I admit the fact he is an honest man. And he has some knowledge of international affairs. But he is totally misfit for local politics. If he was born in America or England probably he would have made some headway but not in Sri Lanka.

Q: People say that when compared to previous UNP leaders Mr. Wickremesinghe has become a laughing stock due to his recent nonsensical statements. Do you agree with this?

A: I think so. He is responsible for weakening the UNP, which is getting weaker and weaker under his poor leadership.

Q: What is the stand of the UNP(D)?

A: We are fully with the government and the APRC. May be there are certain things that have transpired in the APRC that may not be 100 per cent ok. But we have put across our point of view. And the unit of devolution should be the provincial council. We have categorically said that or there should be amendments to this. All these things could be discussed and some kind of agreement should be reached at the end.

Q: Are any of your members secretly operating to re-join the UNP in a sudden move and vote against the next budget?

A: No, the 17 members of our group are very strong, intelligent, educated and seasoned politicians. They are like the rock of Sigiriya in the government. We are with the government.

Q: If there is an election in the near future what will be the destiny of the UNPDF?

A: We will be contesting with the government hand in hand in a common Front. Before that we can capture the power of the UNP and then we will have a different way of thinking but still we are not going to wean away from the government or get out of the government. We will be contesting along with the government jointly.

Q: Are you aware that the UNP is a cats paw of any international elements which want to topple this government as the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration has hit the terrorists?

A: Yes. This is the very fact that I have been emphasising from the beginning of my discussion. Now when the terrorists are hit Mr. Wickremesinghe and his wing get hurt. And some of the international NGOs and some countries have been funding the LTTE. It's no secret. Why these people have been funding? The LTTE wants the North and the East to be separated from the rest of the country to establish the so called Eelam. This is the area where you get the best offshore petroleum deposits and some of these countries are eyeing for these petroleum deposits. This is an under-world business that they are going to do through Prabhakaran by providing him with all arms and ammunition to get that area separated and to tap all these resources for their benefit by some of the ruthless European countries.

Q: Minister Jayasuriya has also said that the UNP(D) has also contributed to the liberation of the East. Can you tell us on what way you gave your contribution to this?

A: If we did not join the government, the government would have fallen by now. Because it was a great plan after the JVP moved out saying that they do not want to support the government. There was a grand plan by Mr. Wickremesinghe and his Wing and the LTTE like Gnanakoon's effort to get a few people out of the government. But the patriotic 17 of us have joined the government and they knew that taking five or four people from the SLFP was not going to do any harm to the government.

And I do not think that the SLFPers were prepared to come out. This was the assurance given by Mangala Samaraweera to Mr. Wickremesinghe that he was going to get 18 people out of the government. This will never happen. Hadn't we joined the government by now the government would have fallen. We are patriotic and we are not for petty politics, we want to protect our people and the country. That is why we joined the government.

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