NPC DISSENT to be curbed by international players

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Usually, intra party rivalry, triggered during an election, settles down soon. But, it has boiled into a new crisis   within the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) after the September 21 Provincial Council Election.Meanwhile, there is a similar crisis in the TNA over the allocation of provincial minister posts. However, it is assumed that international players who made the NPC polls possible in the first place, would do everything they can to iron out these differences in the TNA.




UPFA members give vent to anger
UPFA candidates, nursing differences with one another during their frantic canvassing for preferential votes, gave vent to their anger by defeating those nominated by the party hierarchy for  the posts of chairman at the Central and North Western Provincial Councils.

During the inaugural sessions of the two Councils, the government had a setback because its nominees for the chairman posts were defeated by the opposition with the backing of a section of the ruling party. In the North Western Provincial Council, newly elected Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara proposed the name of Indrani Dasanayake, the widow of late Minister D. M. Dasanayake of Anamaduwa. But, the United National Party (UNP) proposed Dharmasiri Dasanayake who is another member of the UPFA, to the post. He was elected with a handsome number of votes.  Likewise, government’s nominee Mahinda Abeykoon was defeated by L.D. Wimalaratne nominated by the UNP in a similar fashion with the support of the section of the ruling party.  Both elected members are from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main party of the ruling coalition called ‘UPFA”.

In fact, they were elected to their posts against the wishes of the party which had nominated two othermembers.  




President fuming
SLFP Central Committee that met with party leader President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the chair on Monday took up the matter with due seriousness.
Visibly outraged by this action, the President said the sternest possible disciplinary action should be taken against anyone breaching the party decisions and the code of ethics. The President, furious over what happened, remarked that the party should not tolerate at any cost such different postures taken by its members.
The two elected members were suspended from the party membership forthright pending disciplinary inquiries.
The SLFP central committee devoted most of the time to discuss such disciplinary issues. Besides, the party discussed the need to beef up its political activities in the North for future electoral success. The party, despite its landslide victories in the South, suffered a humiliating defeat in the North at the September 21 polls at the hands of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).  



" National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara is a politician commonly associated with street protests and agitations for workers’ rights. Yet, last week, he participated in Vap Magula (A traditional ceremony that symbolises the preparation of land for paddy cultivation) "



Reaction to Wigneswaran’s goodwill
At the meeting, Minister of Small Export Crops Promotion, Reginald Cooray hailed what he called’ the gesture of goodwill’ shown by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran by taking oaths before the President.
He opined that the government should work cordially with the administration of the Northern Provincial Council.
“We should work with them without any confrontation. Then, we can sort out problems. We should respond to their gesture of goodwill,” he said.  




A new game plan for NCP
After the death of former North Central Province Chief Minister Bertie Premalal Dissanayake, the SLFP is reshuffling its organisers in Anuradhapura. Mr. Dissanayake, during his last days, had been at odds with the party for not re-appointing him to the post of chief minister. His main political rivalry was with Deputy Minister of Economic Development S. M. Chandrasena and S.M. Ranjith who is the present Chief Minister of the North Central Provincial Council.




Chandrasena hailed by supporters
Now, the SLFP has appointed Deputy Minister Chandrasena as the organiser of the Kalawewa electorate in Anuradhapura, filling the vacancy created after the death of Mr. Dissanayake. It is the largest electorate in the district with 122,000 voters.  Mr. Chandrasena, who was the organiser for the Horowpothana electorate for ten years, has now been placed in Kalawewa. Newly appointed Deputy Minister of Prison Reforms S.C. Muthukumarana has been posted to Horowpothana. The Kekirawa electorate will be given to NCP Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith. MP Gamage Weerasena, who is presently there, is slated to be assigned elsewhere in the district, according to political sources from the district.

With Kalawewa and Kekirawa now lying in the hands of two Chandrasenas, the brothers will continue to wield political power in the district which was done by the late Chief Minister along with his son Education Services Minister Duminda Dissanayake.

Mr. Chandrasena’s appointment was hailed by his supporters in Kalawewa, who organised functions to welcome him. He was taken in a vehicular procession around the electorate.  



" After the death of former North Central Province Chief Minister Bertie Premalal Dissanayake, the SLFP is reshuffling its organisers in Anuradhapura. Mr. Dissanayake, during his last days, had been at odds with the party for not re-appointing him to the post of chief minister. His main political rivalry was with Deputy Minister of Economic Development S. M. Chandrasena and S.M. Ranjith who is the present Chief Minister of the North Central Provincial Council "



Dissent knocks on TNA doors
Dissent within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the allocation of ministerial posts in the NPC reached the climax last Friday when eight elected members refused to be sworn in by Chief Minister C.W. Wigneswaran.  TNA is a combination of five parties – Ilankai Tamil Arachu Kachchi (ITAK), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).
EPRLF led by MP Suresh Premachandran nominated Kandaiya Sarveswaran, university lecturer, to a ministerial post whereas TELO proposed the name of M.K. Sivajilingam. Disregarding  these two nominations, the Chief Minister handpicked P. Ayngaranesan of EPRLF as the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Irrigation and Environment, and Mr. T.  Deniswaran (TELO) as the Minister of Fisheries, Transport, Trade and Rural Development.

Besides, T. Kurukularajah of ITAK has been appointed the Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports and Dr. P. Sathiyalingam of ITAK the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine. The subjects kept under the chief minister’s purview are Administration, Police and Public Order within the Province. Finance, Planning – Implementation of Provincial Economic Plans, Post-War Reconciliation, Provincial Housing and Construction, Roads, Bridges and Ferries, National Housing, Rest houses and Circuit Bungalows,  Human Rights, Cooperatives and Cooperative Development  Lands, Acquisition and requisitioning of Property, Rehabilitation of Destitute Persons and families, Rehabilitation and Welfare of Physically, Mentally and Socially Handicapped persons, Relief of the Disabled and Unemployables.




Integrity first, says Sampanthan
However, ITAK leader R. Sampanthan who is also the leader of the TNA said Mr. Wigneswaran was given a free hand in the selection of ministers according to a criterion.  He said competence, integrity in public life and broader representation of the Alliance in the North were considered in the appointment of provincial ministers.
Disunity among the TNA members has been a matter of concern for international players.  India and the United States (US) played a major role through the diplomatic channel to make this election a reality.  Therefore, it is assumed that these international players would do the needful to ensure the smooth functioning of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) for their geopolitical interests.

The NPC is to be housed at a building being constructed in Kaithady, Jaffna. The building will be handed over to the TNA for logistical arrangements today.
The TNA’s victory was anticipated right from the beginning. Nevertheless, the government   never thought it would have brought them only seven seats. The outcome of the election was even discussed at the government’s parliamentary group meeting on October 7. At the meeting, the President remarked how the number of members elected on the government’s ticket could have been increased. He said if the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) had contested with the UPFA, it could have increased a few more seats for the government.



" There were rumblings with the government over the appointment of nine deputy ministers. Disanointed were the aspirants who did not get a post despite them even being political servile to the ruling party. Some of them had got their supporters to organise ceremonies to welcome them as newly sworn-in deputy ministers "



‘Choka Malli’ blasts Pavithra
At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Premalal Jayasekara accused his Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi of not inviting him for the opening of electrification projects at least in his electorate in the Ratnapura district. Both are from the same district.

Mr. Jayasekara commonly known as Choka Malli took Ms. Wanniarachchi to task over this matter in the presence of the President.

There were rumblings with the government over the appointment of nine deputy ministers. Disanointed were the aspirants who did not get a post despite them even being political servile to the ruling party. Some of them had got their supporters to organise ceremonies to welcome them as newly sworn-in deputy ministers. Yet, they were in for a rude shock eventually upon realisation that their names were not in the list.

They even started grumbling about it even with their colleagues of the Opposition in Parliament. One of them even remarked to an MP from the Opposition that only the crossovers from the United National Party (UNP) could secure posts in the government under the present circumstances.




Free lunch from ‘plotting’ Buddhika
UNP MP for the Matara district Buddhika Pathirane was dumfounded in Parliament last week when Housing Construction and Engineering Services Minister Wimal Weerawansa accused him of supplying hundreds of lunch packets to those who participated in the protest march in Matara demanding the resignation of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“I heard that you supplied the protestors with 300 lunch packets,” he said.A visibly embarrassed Pathirana sat down without uttering a word in response to Mr. Weerawansa.  



Mahipala, Vasu scratch each other’s backs
National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara is a politician commonly associated with street protests and agitations for workers’ rights. Yet, last week, he participated in Vap Magula (A traditional ceremony that symbolises the preparation of land for paddy cultivation).  It was in the Mudunkotuwa area. Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Mahipala Herath also participated.

The ceremony had been organised to mark the preparation of barren paddy land to be cultivated with traditional paddy varieties. The event has been organised by Sabaragamuwa provincial council member Naminda Anurapriya representing Minister Nanayakkara’s Democratic Left Front.  After lighting oil lamps made of clay as a ritual, there came the occasion to keep an assortment of traditional kitchen utensils one above the other in proper order.

It looked like a marvelous creation. The Minister was so delighted to see it that he repeatedly uttered the word ‘wonderful’.

Later, Mr. Herath and the Minister discussed how they spent more than ten years in Parliament together.  In fact, they recalled how they struggled to get traditional food varieties such as cowpea, lentils and Kurakkan on the menu of the parliamentary canteen.  

Mr. Herath said, “Both of us are anti-imperialists. Instead of serving wheat flour products, we wanted the parliament canteen to serve us with traditional food varieties.  We had policy differences on some matters. Today, the President had entrusted Minister Nanayakkara with a great responsibility- the National Languages and Social Integration Ministry. He is the best person to do it.”