Ranil surrenders after peace talks with Range and Ashok

The internal crisis in the main Opposition - United National Party (UNP) has gone from bad to worse with several other parliamentarians making secret plans to follow Dayasiri Jayasekera who crossed over to the Government a fortnight ago.

But President Mahinda Rajapaksa told media heads at the monthly breakfast meeting at Temple Trees on Tuesday that he has temporarily closed the door for MPs who intend to join his camp. "After Dayasiri's arrival, I have asked to close the door for the time being because there should be a responsible Opposition too," the President told the chief editors and electronic media heads from tv and radio stations.

Undoubtedly, that would be a big relief and words of consolation for Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the leader of the UNP. Amidst strong rumours that at least three other UNP MPs are currently holding talks to join the Government, the President's statement would come as a consolation to Ranil who is struggling to avoid the UNP's 28th successive defeat at next month's Provincial Council elections to the North, North-Western and Central Provinces.

It has been a practice for Ranil to make an overseas tour each time an election is around the corner. He had planned to tour the United Kingdom this month, ignoring the UNP's PC polls campaign. But when media highlighted his proposed tour as a ploy to deliberately keep away from the UNP campaign and put the blame for defeat on others, Ranil was compelled to call off the happy and gay tour.

DM's speech

Meanwhile, Prime Minister D.M. Jayarathne has caused anxiety to Ranil, by saying that six more leading figures of the opposition will cross over to the government soon, and in addition, a large number of UNP members are ready to join the Government.

The Prime Minister made these revelations at a public meeting in Gampola last week. "All citizens of the country are now enjoying the benefits of massive development projects implemented by the government and wise people are happy with the government," he said.

The UNP is still trying to recover from the shock exit of its Kurunegala District parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera, undoubtedly the most popular MP in the Opposition.

He set an example and introduced a new political culture by resigning his seat in the Parliament to join the SLFP, the main constituent party in the ruling UPFA. He is now engaged in the North-Western Provincial Council election campaign.

There is a nice audio clipping, titled Ai Oba Panne Daya (meaning 'Why did you crossover Daya' in Sinhala), that is doing rounds on the web, including the popular social network site Facebook. The song has been composed to the melody of the popular Sinhala song Ai Oba Naawe Daya sung by the late popular singer H.R. Jothipala.

The lyrics of the new version composed after the Dayasiri saga are nicely worded without any malice or mud-slinging. In one verse, it says, Ranilge aalaya nolada Dayasiri Janapathi Madurata adiela giya . . . (Since Dayasiri was attracted to the President's House as he did not get love and due place from Ranil).

The return of Dayasiri to the SLFP has further strengthened the UPFA's election campaign to the North-Western Provincial Council election. Veteran SLFP leaders such as Minister S.B. Navinna and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, have thrown their weight fully behind Dayasiri and other UPFA candidates.

Though veteran Ranil loyalists in the UNP blame Dayasiri for his decision, most of the moderate UNP seniors and partymen have hailed the popular MP's decision and have said Dayasiri was compelled to leave the UNP due to the short-sighted decisions of Ranil.

They have openly accused Ranil's inner circle which appears to control the UNP. Badulla District UNP MP Harin Fernando has told the media that people such as Mangala Samaraweera should be held responsible for crossovers and the downfall of the party.

UNP leader pleads with Range and Ashok

Puttalam District UNP MP Range Bandara has always insisted on reforms in the party so that they would have a better chance at future elections.

He has been a leading figure in the UNP reformist group led by Sajith Premadasa. Though the exit of Dayasiri has weakened the UNP rebel group, Range Bandara continues to expose the weakness of the party leadership.

But when Ranil found an unhealthy political climate to his leadership in the UNP with the exit of Dayasiri and the upcoming Provincial Council elections, he was forced to take a few steps backwards by withdrawing the disciplinary hearings against Range Bandara and Ashok Abeysinghe, another UNP MP who has been insisting on reforms.

This was a part of an image building campaign Ranil has entrusted to UNP parliamentarians and former Cabinet Ministers Ravi Karunanayake and Lakshman Kiriella. Ravi and Kiriella have begun a series of discussions with UNP groups who are disgusted with Ranil's leadership.

Due to continuous pleas by Ravi and Kiriella, rebel MPs Range Bandara and Ashok finally agreed to have a discussion with the UNP leader on Tuesday at the Opposition Leader's office. At the outset of the meeting, Ranil pleaded with Range and Ashok not to leak anything about the closed door meeting to the media.

Range Bandara then clearly spelt out his stance to Ranil. "We have no personal grudge against you. But we are hungry for victory. I have been in politics for 13 years. But I don't see any UNP victory in the near future. Loads of disgusted UNP parliamentarians left the party and joined the Government. The party must stop gunning down parliamentarians who express different views," he said.

Range's hour-long speech

Range spoke for almost an hour, giving a detailed account on how the party has treated them and finally put forward a condition to take the UNP peace talks forward. "We have no intension of leaving this party but will legally battle the disciplinary action taken.

We had no desire to meet the party leader but since Ravi and Kiriella pleaded, we came here. You must immediately cancel the expulsion of 19 members from the party," Range said. Surprisingly, neither Ranil nor Ravi made any remarks as Range had his own way.

Ashok then took the baton and continued to criticise recent actions taken by the UNP leadership. He too gave a detailed account of how the party had ill-treated them.

It was an unusually silent Ranil, after Range's and Ashok's back to back bouncers. Ranil had no option but to go on the defensive.

"I will immediately stop all disciplinary action against you two. You will get back your party membership too. We will work together," a helpless Ranil said.

But Range and Ashok did not agree to it at once. "You have to take Maithri Gunaratne and Shiral Laktillake back. Cancel their expulsion from the party immediately," Range said. Ranil said they could discuss it at another round of talks. "Then what about Sajith and Karu. They are former deputy leaders. You must make use of them," Range said.

"No, I have not ignored them. They have been entrusted certain responsibilities in the UNP's election campaign," Ranil said.

Ranil goes for cheap political mileage

Ranil, in a desperate attempt to come out of the political wilderness and show his strength, thought of gaining petty political mileage from the recent incidents in Weliweriya over environmental pollution.

He visited Weliweriya and the surrounding areas on Friday where the police and army were called in to maintain law and order after unruly protestors attempted to take the law into their hands against the contamination of groundwater by a private factory.

UNP politicians including MPs John Amaratunga and Ruwan Wijewardena visited the area and spoke to some of the villagers who were allegedly assaulted by the army.

The Weliweriya drinking water dispute was settled satisfactorily earlier but interested parties, in the meantime provoked villagers into needless confrontations.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that the protesting public were satisfied with the solution offered to close the factory, which was causing contamination of water in the area.

"They were eager about the practical outcome of the settlement, but those with political motives provoked some of the residents into taking needless action," he said.

Meanwhile, Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that the Water Resources Board of his ministry convened an emergency meeting comprising officials from ministries, health, water supply, drainage, industries and from the Board of Investment to meet the problems faced by the public in Weliweriya, Gampaha over the contamination of drinking water wells and groundwater from chemical effluents. Sections of the public in Gampaha staged a black flag protest on Thursday over the situation of drinking water and groundwater contamination as a result of chemical effluents released by some factories in the area, demanding potable water.

Minister Gunawardena said they have given priority to the drinking water problem in Weliweriya. He said, "Drinking water wells in these areas have become polluted as a result of untreated chemical effluents coming from industries. "The National Water Supply and Drainage Board is there to ensure treatment and distribution of water. It is doing its part to provide clean drinking water to the public in Weliweriya through its mobile water supply units and bowsers."

Minister Gunawardena said there have been some labour issues in some BOI factories in the area because some owners had reportedly dismissed around 100 workers.

Breakfast meeting with media heads

Local media heads who come to Temple Trees every month are normally served with a glass of fresh juice or a cup of tea and coffee. But instead at last week's meeting chief editors and tv and radio channel heads were served with a hot cup of fresh milk and many of them commended the move to switch to fresh milk which should be promoted instead of imported powdered milk.

Minister of Mass Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukwella welcomed all in his customary way and opened the floor for the media heads who had the freedom of firing any question at the First Citizen.

Asked whether President Rajapaksa has changed his stance on issues such as provincial councils, he said he has not changed his principles or policies despite reaching the pinnacle of his political career. "I have never changed a principled political position in my political career. Even after I became the President, I still maintain the same principles that I believed in at the beginning of my political career," the President said.

Answering two questions, one on whether there is a change in his position on police powers to Provincial Councils and the other on the appointment of the Commission to Probe Disappearances, the President said that he was the first and the only politician to talk about disappearances way back in the 1980s.

He said that probing disappearances now is in line with his principled position taken then. The President said that his politics 'is like that'; the position he took several years ago will never change now. "Whether I am in power or not does to make a difference; my positions will not change," he said.

He also said that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) should be treated as a national endeavour, which will benefit the entire nation. He said that such a national effort should be treated as such, and the media should depict the true position on CHOGM as in the final analysis it will benefit the country.

Galle District Parliamentarian and Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs, Sajin Vass Gunawardene said that over 65,000 hotel rooms will be used for accommodating participants during the two week period that the CHOGM is held, and that will entail considerable revenue to the country.

The Commonwealth Business Forum will also be held within those two weeks will be instrumental in initiating continuous revenue generating investment projects.

He also said that only a Head of State, Foreign Minister, and Foreign Secretary of a country will be hosted gratis i.e. given rooms at Sri Lanka's state expense during CHOGM, as per the accepted CHOGM conventions of past meetings.

All other expenses of members of delegations will have to be paid for by the visiting delegation.

Finance Ministry Secretary, Dr. P B Jayasundera said that cars belonging to Ministries will be pooled for the CHOGM in the same way that those cars are pooled during national election time.

Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that Heads of State have to be provided with facilities befitting their status and therefore, they would need special automobiles. "We will certainly not make a Head of State to travel in a Toyota Corolla," he said.

Sajin said that all member countries of CHOGM are participating in the CHOGM Conference and this includes Heads of State. In the case of Canada, though the Canadians had said that they will participate at something less than Head of State level, the Canadian Prime Minister may eventually come to Colombo for the CHOGM as Canada has isolated itself on the stand taken on the matter.

Chandrika's PSD men jailed

The Panadura Provincial High Court Judge while sentencing all 10 accused for harassing and causing bodily harm in the Rukantha-Chandraleka case, said, "the accused PSD officers while on duty had taken the law into their hands and had committed a grave offence."

Panadura High Court Judge Kusala Sarojanee Weerawardene said that all the charges brought against them have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. She said the atrocities committed against the complainants seemed to have political motivations.

Nine former PSD officers and a labourer attached to the PSD who served during the tenure of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga were sentenced to four-and-half years Rigorous Imprisonment and were ordered to pay Rs. 1.8 million as compensation.

"The accused have taken the law into their hands and acted in such a way as to destroy the tenets of democracy. Their action has caused grave humiliation to the couple and had caused loss of property and belongings.

"This court cannot reject the evidence given by the complainants and the domestic who lived with the couple", Judge Kusala Sarojanee Weerawardene said.

"Considering all evidence led before court and the submission made by the lawyers, and State counsel, I sentence the accused to four and a half years rigorous imprisonment and order them to pay Rs. 200,000 each to the complainant," she said.

The former PSD officers stood accused of breaking into the home of the popular vocalists Rukantha Gunathilaka and Chandraleka Perera in Mattegoda and harassing them. They were also charged with stealing gold jewellery and a jeep worth Rs. 3.65 million.

The Panadura High Court sentenced 10 of the 11 suspects who stood accused of the above charges. The seventh accused in the case was found not guilty while the fourth accused, a labourer attached to the PSD, too received the same punishment as the nine officers.

Nine of the 10 suspects received four and half years Rigorous Imprisonment while the other suspect, who is disabled, received a four and half year term of simple imprisonment.

President, First Lady greet Royal family

President Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Wickremasinghe Rajapaksa last week congratulated the Royal Family on the birth of the Prince of Cambridge, the third heir to the throne.

Writing to the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, President Rajapaksa extended greetings on behalf of the Sri Lankan people on the birth of her great grandson, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.

"The birth of the Prince of Cambridge is undoubtedly significant for the Royal family and the people of the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth," President Rajapaksa wrote.

"It is indeed a pleasure to convey through Your Majesty, warmest felicitations on this happy occasion, to their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall," the message from the Sri Lankan leader said.