At present, there is heat similar to the election heat, about the designation of auspicious times to perform Sinhala New Year rituals.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe also got involved in this subject when he asked the political cabinet whether they should start work after celebrating the New Year and Vesak.
“Now there is a problem about the designation of auspicious times for the New Year. Some people are against designating the auspicious time to partake in meals at night,” Director General of Government Information Dinith Chinthaka said.
“The best auspicious time was at the time when we gained Independence. The late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake gained Independence at the best auspicious time,” when President Wickremesinghe said that, everyone looked at one another.
“The Government has nothing to do with this. The auspicious times are designated by the State Astrologers’ Committee. Those days, people used to designate auspicious times according to the ‘Epa Panchanga’ Litha. It is said that the State Astrologers’ Committee also designated these auspicious times accordingly,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said looking at the President.
“Sir, what did you say about that best auspicious time,” MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage asked.
“We gained Independence in August 1947. But D.S. Senanayake organised the event in February for the best auspicious time. Myanmar, which gained independence with us, celebrated its independence before us. The country is still flourshing because of that best auspicious time,” the President said.
As usual, President Wickremesinghe came to the office on Monday. He first met the Media Committee and in the afternoon he met the Committee of Ministers appointed by the political cabinet.
Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and Director General Government Information Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne were included as officials.
The President who met the committee spoke about the expansion of the committee. The President gave advice to Minister Prasanna Ranatunga to include Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena as well as some Ministers to represent other parties.
President Wickremesinghe said that the committee should meet every Wednesday under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and that its progress should be reviewed under his chairmanship every Monday before the Cabinet meeting.
Many other issues were discussed about the election and the President also took steps to appoint some members for practical implementation.
Apart from the election campaign, the Speaker’s No Confidence Motion was also discussed based on a document submitted by Minister Prasanna Ranatunga.
It was a document about Ministers who were abroad. It came to light that they had gone abroad without informing the Chief Government Whip. Although the President instructed them to contact these Ministers via telephone immediately, it was not possible due to the time difference in those countries.
President Wickremesinghe immediately contacted Foreign Ministry Secretary Aruni Wijewardena and told her to call the foreign Embassies and inform them that he had instructed the MPs to come to Sri Lanka immediately.
No Confidence vote
Another question that arose was whether they would be able to return to Sri Lanka by Wednesday, the day of the No Confidence vote. The President had a good strategy for that.
“At the Party Leaders’ meeting, the Opposition had asked for three days for the debate, right? Say that we will give those three days.” After President Wickremesinghe said that, Chief Government Whip Minister Prasanna Ranatunga implemented it after requesting a Party Leaders’ meeting again.
The President gave the information to Chief Government Whip Minister Prasanna Ranatunga to counter the two accusations against the Speaker in the debate, asking him to give it to the MPs.
The President also advised MPs not to travel abroad without notifying the Chief Government Whip from now on.
Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka presented a document to the committee about the election organisation activities. The committee member Ministers said that there is a problem for the ruling party members about the upcoming election. Therefore, in response to MP Mahindananda’s request to make a statement about it, President Wickremesinghe said, “I will inform the Cabinet about this.”
“It would be good if this could be said at the Government parliamentary group meeting as well,” MP Mahindananda repeated and President Wickremesinghe informed the Cabinet and the parliamentary group accordingly.
At the end of the Government parliamentary group meeting, several Ministers told the President that Basil Rajapaksa had informed the MPs to come to the Nelum Mawatha office on Wednesday. “We will speak our minds,” when the MPs said, the President smiled and said nothing.
President meets IMF officials
That evening, the President met IMF officials at the Presidential Secretariat. They came to Sri Lanka for the second review and they said the economy is in a good condition, foreign reserves have been developed and inflation has been brought down to a lower level than expected.
They congratulated the President for the successful changes he brought about to the country in difficult times. Officials of the IMF said that they will meet the Government again after meeting Opposition political parties and then hold a press conference and announce this matter to the world.
President Wickremesinghe went to the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday morning for the weekly defence review.
After that, a discussion was held with Microsoft in relation to the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the school sector at the Presidential Secretariat.
A group of visitors came to the Presidential Secretariat that morning. They were the children, teachers and parents of Konwewa Primary School, which is in a very remote village in Anamaduwa.
Before the New Year, they had come to see the President, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and others along with seven boxes of sweets as a building was constructed at a cost of Rs. 2 million for Konwewa Primary School and a teachers’ quarters was also being built with the intervention of President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake.
These children were facilitated to visit the Presidential Secretariat, Parliament and the Lotus Tower on the instructions of the President.
It was clear from seeing the sweets they brought that the children came to Colombo with the feeling that they were visiting relatives.
When the children worshiped the President’s Secretary, tears came to everyone’s eyes. The officers of the Presidential Secretariat told these children about the scholarship program introduced by the President’s Fund and told them to apply for it.
UNP May Day celebrations
President Wickremesinghe, who met the officers of the UNP Management Committee in the evening, spoke about the party’s May Day celebrations.
General Secretary Range Bandara informed the Management Committee that as proposals have been received for the Maradana and the Independence Square locations, both locations have been temporarily allocated and one of the two locations should be selected soon.
The President’s decision was that May Day should be held in the middle of Jayantha Weerasekara Mawatha, Maradana. Accordingly, it was decided to hold the May Day rally there.
General Secretary Range Bandara said that since 1,000 regional organisers have been appointed for the electorates, each organiser has been informed to get 60 people to participate in the May Day rally. “Even though party re-organisation is always talked about here, work is done only in a few districts.” Therefore, at the end of the meeting, the President instructed party Executive Director Shamal Senarath to give him a report on this.
In the evening, President Wickremesinghe and First Lady Prof. Maithri Wickremesinghe went to the Lionel wendt Theatre, Colombo to watch the “My Tribute” concert.
On Wednesday morning, the President opened the Bodhi Prakara at the Tampita Purana Vihara, Kegalle and came directly to Parliament.
After looking into the No Confidence Motion against the Speaker, the President had a friendly meeting with the members of the Government and opposition parties who came to his Parliament office.
‘Guththila Kavya’
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who came there, recited a poem from ‘Guththila Kavya’ to the President and told him not to help ungrateful people while looking at Prof. Ashu Marasinghe.
Prof. Marasinghe told the Minister to recite that poem in the Parliament as well. Fulfilling his request, Minister Nimal Siripala recited it in Parliament, adding a hint to the Opposition Leader.
COPE resignations
Several MPs also inquired about the resignation of the Opposition members from the COPE. The President said that it is a matter outside his scope and pointed out that it is better to resolve this in Parliament itself.
That evening, President Wickremesinghe joined the Gamini Dissanayake commemoration. The President who went to the Ministry of Finance on Thursday morning joined the final discussion of the IMF delegation. At the end of it, the President told the group that there were signs that the country was on its way out of bankruptcy.
The President spent the weekend in Jaffna and Polonnaruwa.
“What are we doing now about the Presidential Election? Who will we support? The party has not made a decision yet,” a Member of Parliament raised a question.
“I am saying that we should support President Ranil Wickremesinghe at this time. Because he is solving the problems that have arisen in the country,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.
“Anyway, the Presidential Election comes first and we have to win it. My personal opinion is that we should come with an alliance for the Presidential and General Elections. Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa called us and talked about the number of candidates the party needs in each district and the number of seats we can give out if we go into an alliance. I have already prepared the Gampaha statistics,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga repeated.
Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa told us that Ranil Wickremesinghe is the right candidate for the Presidential chair. But Rajapaksa said that he could not get an assurance from Ranil Wickremesinghe,” MP Tissa Kuttiarachchi said.
“We need to make the right decision this time. We should take this decision thinking about the party members. If the JVP or SJB wins, our party members may be harassed.
“Sir… we want to hear what the party members say. Otherwise, we will have to face harassment. Sir, your opinion is right. Talk to the party members soon. No matter what decision is taken, a decision should be taken that will protect the party members,” another MP said.
“Yes. I will meet Basil Rajapaksa the day after tomorrow and I will speak about it. Along with the party’s decision, I will also take a decision,” Minister Ranatunga said.
“Sir, you speak directly. Some of our people are on the fence. It’s the little ones like us who face harassment,” MP Sahan Pradeep said.
“Even if it is disadvantageous for me, I speak straight,” Minister Ranatunga said.
“Some are trying to come through the National List. That’s why they keep their legs on both sides,” said Sahan Pradeep, looking at Tissa Kuttiarachchi.
This roused the anger of Kuttiarachchi. “Who said, I didn’t say that. I have not talked about anything except the fact that I am not contesting the elections and the organisation of the party,” Tissa Kuttiarachchi said, and told Sahan Pradeep, “Don’t talk about me.”
“You are a child in the party, I am not afraid of your mouth,” replied Sahan Pradeep. The two MPs were about to engage in a verbal exchange, but Minister Ranatunga prevented it.
SLPP Parliamentary Group meets
A meeting of the parliamentary group of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was held at the party headquarters, Nelum Mawatha last Wednesday.
This meeting was called by SLPP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was also present. Many political parties have already named their candidates. But the SLPP has not named its Presidential candidate yet. Therefore, this discussion called by Basil Rajapaksa had attracted a lot of attention in the media.
“Some do not remember the beginning. There was a time when we could not even go abroad. It was this President who changed the situation. We should not forget that,” Basil raised his voice, opening the discussion.
“There are some criteria that our party considers when deciding on the Presidential Candidate. According to that, the candidate is selected,” Basil said again.
When Minister Ranatunga, who participated in the discussion, came out, he met Rajapaksa family cousin Udayanga Weeratunga face to face. There is a bad relationship between Udayanga and Minister Ranatunga. It started from the time when Prasanna Ranatunga was the Minister of Tourism and it’s a long story. Although Udayanga blamed Minister Ranatunga everywhere, he did not respond to them.
At this moment Minister Ranatunga lost his temper. “This is the one who is creating trouble for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. When he sees a microphone, he uses it for rhetoric,” Minister Ranatunga said. The other Ministers who were around were watching, unable to comprehend what was happening, because Udayanga’s close relatives, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa were also in the SLPP office.
“When we set up the ‘Pohottuwa’, he was not even in Sri Lanka. He was hiding because he was afraid to come out because of the MiG aircraft deal. We came out because we set up the ‘Pohottuwa’, Prasanna said again. “Excuse me Minister,” realising that there is no one to help him, Udayanga said in a helpless manner.
“You should apologise not to me. You should apologise to former President Rajapaksa who is in the office. Because of your rhetorical mouth, that great person won’t be able to walk down the street. You can do politics wherever you want. But don’t come to interfere in the work of ‘Pohottuwa’. We will take care of it,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga continued in an aggressive manner.
In the past week, the attention of many people in the political sphere was focused on Parliament. After three days of debate, the No Confidence Motion (NCM) was defeated by a majority of 42 votes. Before the vote, the Government took measures to bring Ministers Bandula Gunawardena, Harin Fernando, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Manusha Nanayakkara and MPs Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Madhura Withanage from abroad cutting short their foreign trips.
Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media Dr. Bandula Gunawardena went to the US last Sunday to participate in the 21st Conference on ‘Transportation Transformation’ in Washington, under the auspices of the World Bank.
Minister Gunawardena returned to Sri Lanka due to the Government’s decision to call all the Ministers who were abroad to vote against the NCM brought by the Opposition against the speaker.
Prior to that, the Minister held discussions with the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure, Guangzhe Chen. The Minister also held discussions with Dung Anh Hoang, Senior Transport Advisor of the World Bank in the Maldives and Sri Lanka and Fei Deng, Manager of the World Bank’s Transport Process in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal.
Like Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, returned from Israel, Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi from Canada, Minister Harin Fernando from Australia and State Minister Dilum Amunugama from London.
NCM, a non-starter
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the No Confidence Motion brought against Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is a malicious non-starter and that the statement made by NPP Leader MP Anura Dissanayake saying everything in this world is not ethical and that we should understand who the common enemy is.
The Minister said this while joining the NCM debate in Parliament on Wednesday (March 20).
He said, “This is a malicious proposal. There is no way to excite the people that an election is coming. We should get out of this conservative politics. In the political history of this country, President Ranil Wickremesinghe made a big change in the political culture. We should be proud of him. He has no relatives to bring to politics. No children. Don’t forget that it was Ranil Wickremesinghe who took over the huge ‘fire’ in the country at a difficult time and put it out and saved not only us but also the lives of your relatives. Let us work in our political campaigns by understanding who our common enemy is.”
A press conference was conducted by UNP Chairman MP Wajira Abeywardena in Colombo last Monday. “This is a country that has a media movement that is happy when the country falls. Now when the dollar is gradually coming down, where are these media organisations? When reading newspapers in the morning and news in the evening, it should be mentioned as before. Now the dollar is slowly moving down,” he said.
