The Presidential Election heat intensified with Ranil Wickremesinghe depositing money as an independent candidate.
At the same time, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) announced that it will convey a message to the country asking whether to support President Ranil Wickremesinghe or field a separate candidate.
President Wickremesinghe, who went to Homagama on Sunday to participate in the Jayagamu Sri Lanka meeting organised by Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, came to Colombo and met many party activists.
The President came to the Political Office on Monday morning to meet the Presidential Election Steering Committee.
As the decision of the SLPP was to be announced that evening, there was talk about it as well.
“Sir, on the other hand, everything has been simplified. There are not even 20 MPs represented in Pohottuwa’s politburo. There is more room to field a separate candidate,” Pohottuwa MPs told the President.
“Make plans to move forward in light of any decision.” That was the President’s decision.
In the evening, after the decision taken by the SLPP politburo, the Ministers met again and another group of Ministers called Director General of Government Information Dinith Chinatka Karunaratne to ask what should be done.
He immediately informed President Wickremesinghe about this and the President informed Dinith to tell them to come to his political office at Flower Road. Dinith Chinthaka immediately conveyed this message to the Ministers and MPs.
Another group of people who went to the politburo came to the Flower Road office by contacting Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka. Through Sagala’s and Dinith’s message, a group of nearly 70 Ministers and MPs gathered at the President’s political office that night.
The Pohottuwa MPs suggested that the Government parliamentary group be convened. Accordingly, a message was issued immediately through the Chief Government Whip’s office to summon the MPs to the Presidential Secretariat. As usual, before the MPs of the SLPP met, the Cabinet meeting was also held at the Presidential Secretariat that day.
In the political heat of the Presidential Election, the Election Commission sent a letter to President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake informing him to suspend development work and the issuance of public subsidies during the Presidential Election.
Fitting reply
President’s Secretary Ekanayake gave them a fitting reply. The Secretary’s answer was that the people will be inconvenienced again when the Government is working to free the people who have been stuck in an economic crisis for several years. That was the summary of the long letter sent by the President’s Secretary.
In the meantime, referring to another letter, the Election Commission informed that many problems have arisen regarding security due to the absence of an Acting Inspector General of Police.
The President’s Secretary, who immediately took steps to refer the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security and the Deputy Inspector General of Elections to the Election Commission, asked both parties to inform him of the facts presented by them.
The President’s Secretary informed the Chairman and Director General of the Election Commission to inform him in writing of all the things they need regarding security. Upon their notification, the President’s Secretary discussed with the President and informed the Ministry of Public Security to provide police protection to the Election Commission and the district offices on the day of submission of nominations.
The President’s Secretary also sent a letter instructing the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security to send police officers to resolve election complaints and related issues and sent a copy to the Election Commission.
On Tuesday, the President focused more on political affairs. Members of the SLPP and SJB started to discuss with the President. Meanwhile, the President also participated in the anniversary celebrations of the Scout movement.
In the evening, the Government parliamentary group met and 92 members of the ruling party group, including the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, attended despite the party giving instructions to the MPs not to participate.
Five MPs had already been informed that they could not come as they were already abroad. Many MPs told the President that grassroots members of the Podujana Peramuna are asking the MPs to work for President Ranil Wickremesinghe. They also pointed out that the best example of this was the views of the people expressed in the Balamandalaya convened by Anuradhapura District MP S.M. Chandrasena.
Death of Hamas leader
On Wednesday morning, President Wickremesinghe got to know the news that the leader of Hamas organisation had been killed in Iran. He immediately inquired about the security of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who had gone to Iran. The President also instructed Secretary Saman Ekanayake to send a special plane to bring him to Sri Lanka if necessary.
Ekanayake took steps to bring him to Sri Lanka by Thursday.
That afternoon, the former Provincial Council members of the SLPP and the UNP met the President at the Water’s Edge Hotel. Recalling the possible crises in the Middle East with the killing of the Hamas leader, President Wickremesinghe also appointed three committees to work for the country’s security.
A group of Ministers and MPs met the President on Thursday to discuss the Presidential Election. There, the MPs of the SLPP informed the President about information circulating on social media. That is that Sajith and Namal met at the home of a media owner.
“We also got to know about this in the first week of July. But we did not believe that it was true. But with what is happening now, we also feel that this story is true,” SLPP MP Rajika Wickramasinghe said.
“Sajith has gone to this discussion with Prof. G.L. Peiris while people such as Kabir, Harsha and Eran, who were there from the beginning, were forgotten,” MP Wajira Abeywardena joined the conversation saying the same.
“The agreement with Sajith was that if he is elected President, Namal will be the Leader of the Opposition. It is also heard that Dhammika Perera has said that he cannot be the candidate for Pohottuwa due to these issues,” MP Premnath C. Dolawatte.
‘Sajith Rajapaksa’
“The Ranil Rajapaksa label has been removed and the Sajith Rajapaksa label has been applied. I have also wondered for some time why the Opposition Leader mentions the name Rajapaksa a little less now. Now he has become Sajith Rajapaksa.” When Prof. Ashu Marasinghe said so, everyone cheered.
“MP Namal Rajapaksa himself should say whether this story is true or not,” Shehan Semasinghe said with a smile.
President Wickremesinghe, who heard all the stories, said, “We have come to this place because everyone worked well. People like Gamini, Lalith and Premadasa were with JR then, I have a good set of young people such as Kanchana, Shehan and Ramesh with me,” the President said with a smile.
The President visited Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee over the weekend.
A set-up
The politburo meeting of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna was held last Monday under the patronage of Party Leader, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The attention of the country was focused on this as it was to decide whether to support the current President or to field another candidate in the Presidential Election.
SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam proposed that the party should field a separate candidate.
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe has sent a letter asking for the support of the party. That letter was sent after depositing money for the nominations,” said Sagara while presenting his proposal.
“No, no, I told him to send that letter. Anyway, he was talking to us from the beginning,” Basil Rajapaksa said, interrupting Sagara. Then the Politburo asked about Sagara’s proposal.
MP S.B. Dissanayake was the first to stand up. “I agree with the proposal made by General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam; I agree a hundred thousand times over.” That’s how the SB began the story. Hearing that, the Executive Committee members applauded. SB was silent for a moment until the applause ended. Looking at the crowd a bit, he said “But I believe that if we want to win, we need to help President Ranil Wickremesinghe for the sake of the country at this time.
Because he is the one who saved our party members,” SB said with a smile.
Hearing SB’s speech, Johnston stood up. “What madness is this? Don’t try to sing hosannas here, Johnston Fernando said.
Prasanna Ranatunga and Mahindananda Aluthgamage rose against Johnston. “Why can’t he express his opinion here? If you can, we can also express our opinions,” Prasanna and Mahindananda asked Johnston. Johnston became silent when it became apparent that things were not going the way he expected.
“This is a setup. There is no point in talking,” Mahindananda told Prasanna. “That’s why there are people here, who we have never seen before,” Minister Prasanna also said.
After the views were obtained, voting was held. First, when the party members who supported the proposal were asked to raise their hands, the majority of them raised their hands. “All this looks like support. Therefore, those who are not in favour of the proposal should raise their hands,” said Sagara. Accordingly, 11 people including Kanchana, Mahindananda, Prasanna raised their hands against the proposal.
Janaka who was in the front row of the meeting had missed this opportunity. When he later said that he was against the proposal, Sagara said that it could not be accepted as the vote had been taken.
Two abstain
However, it is also said that Chamal Rajapaksa and S. B. Dissanayake had abstained from voting. Then Sagara brought another suggestion. If somebody works for another candidate, disciplinary action should be taken against the concerned person.
Six people, including Kanchana, who did not hear the proposal properly, opposed it. Minister Prasanna and Kokila told Kanchana and others from behind not to oppose it. At that moment, Kanchana and the group put their hands down, but by then Sagara had already announced it. Following the meeting at former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence, it caused a commotion in the Pohottuwa.
After the meeting, Prasanna and his group went straight to the President’s residence at Flower Road. S. B. Dissanayake, Mahindananda, Prasanna, Kanchana, Ramesh, Kokila and Sahan were among the MPs who opposed the proposal. While they were discussing the next steps with the President, his Presidential Election strategic planning office at Flower Road, Colombo was being filled with Pohottuwa Ministers and MPs. A group of 50 to 60 people had come to the place.
“We support the President. But the problem is that some people are creating an opinion that we are trying to join the UNP. It should be corrected,” said State Minister Mohan de Silva.
Minister Ramesh Pathirana also endorsed it. In the meantime, the same question was presented to the President who came there.
“No problem, I am contesting as an independent candidate. So, I can be the patron in this alliance,” said President Wickremesinghe.
“No.. No.. Sir, you should be the leader of the alliance,” suggested Minister Prasanna.
“No.. No.. Let’s make the Prime Minister the leader” suggested President Wickremesinghe.
“Some say that I created a rift in Pohottuwa. I did not appoint any of these Ministers. I only gave responsibilities to those appointed by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. These new young Ministers are working well. So, I asked Namal to come and take responsibility. But Mahinda said Namal didn’t like it,” explained President Wickremesinghe. “No… Sir, we were not forced to come here. This is the opinion of the people. But MP Namal and his team were the ones who pressured us to go separately,” Ministers began to say.
UNP Chairman Wajira Abeywardena went to a hotel in Battaramulla to attend a meeting of Local Government representatives recently. Wajira, who was talking, suddenly took out a currency note from his shirt pocket. It is not a normal currency note. It was one lakh currency note. Its value was one hundred thousand Liras. The Lira is the currency of Lebanon. Because Lebanon went into a severe economic crisis, even the Lira notes were printed. Today, inflation in that country is very high. A loaf of bread is one hundred thousand lira.
“If President Ranil Wickremesinghe had not taken a decision two years ago, today our country would have to print 100,000 rupees notes,” said Wajira.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe chaired a meeting with the Government Ministers and MPs on Tuesday. That was after the SLPP Politburo had met the day before and announced that they would field a separate candidate.
The vast majority of Ministers and MPs who participated that day opposed Pohottuwa’s proposal. Ninety two MPs of the Government participated in it and it is also significant that all the MPs representing the new alliance joined this meeting at the Presidential Secretariat.
MP Piyankara Jayaratne said that this is the first time that he attended the Government parliamentary group meeting after he sat in the Opposition as an independent MP.
Another important event was organised at the BMICH last Monday. UNP Chairman MP Wajira Abeywardena was the chief guest.
“The Sri Lanka Progressive Front, which has gathered here now, is a historic political party. Even though the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna had been banned at that time, they contested the sudden General Election from the Sri Lanka Progressive Front.
“They didn’t contest in all districts. Contesting only in a few districts, over 5 percent was obtained from Hambantota district. Nihal Galappaththi was elected to Parliament. If you look at it that way, the Sri Lanka Progressive Front is the party that produced the first JVP MP. Now the Presidential Election is coming. This time, if political parties continue to lie for their own benefit, the country may be pushed to a much worse place,” said Wajira Abeywardena.
