UNP delays official announcement on RW’s candidature as Namal presses for an opportunity

By Shamindra Ferdinando

In spite of determined UNP’s efforts, the party couldn’t convince SJB MPs to switch their allegiance to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in time for this year’s May Day rally chaired by the green leader at Maligawatte, the main Opposition party said.

Gampaha District SJB parliamentarian Kavinda Jayawardena told The Sunday Island that regardless of the UNP’s repeated invitations, the party was sure none in its parliamentary group would join President Wickremesinghe in the run-up to the presidential poll.

UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara, on several occasions, invited the SJB which broke awa from the UNP before the last election to extend their support to Wickremesinghe, thereby strengthening his party ahead of crucial national elections.

SJB MP Nalin Bandara thumbed his nose at the UNP General Secretary over their failure to win over members of the main Opposition party. Addressing the SJB May Day rally at Chatham Street, the former UNP State Minister asked the UNP General Secretary what went wrong with their plans.

The UNP had to be happy with just Moneragala District SLPP MP Gayeshan Nawanandana who switched his allegiance to their side. Interestingly, Nawanandana, a first-time entrant to parliament contested the last general election with veteran politician Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s blessings.

The UNP’s decision not to officially announce Ranil Wickremesinghe candidature at the forthcoming presidential election at its Maligawatte May Day rally raised many eyebrows. The Opposition is going to drum-up this issue in the coming days. However, Minister Harin Fernando and former Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam referred to the forthcoming presidential election with the latter acknowledging the continuing disagreement between the UNP and the SLPP regarding Wickremesinghe’s candidature.

Kariyawasam, who with all his fellow UNP MPs failed to retain his Kurunegala district seat at the last election proudly declared that disgraced Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwelle being behind bars was a Wickremesinghe achievement.

Both the UNP and SJB held rallies on streets, packing participants into long narrow spaces, thereby constraining participation while the SLPP gathered at Campbell Park where former President Mahinda Rajapakasa declared that the outcome of the presidential election depended on SLPP support for the winner. The twice president and ousted premier warned that no one could win unless he/she reached a consensus with the pohottuwa. On stage with MR were Premier Dinesh Gunawardena, Basil Rajapaksa and new National Organizer Namal Rajapaksa widely believed to be the choice of an influential section of the SLPP to contest the presidential poll unless an agreement could be reach with Wickremesinghe to call early parliamentary polls.

Hence MP Namal Rajapaksa’s questioning at the May Day rally what he called “short-term decisions” should be examined in the context of his presidential ambitions. Interestingly, among those on the front row of the SLPP rally was businessman Dhammika Perera, MP, in his trademark blue suit and red tie in contrast to other informally clad participants. Perera has been repeatedly mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in case ongoing talks between Wickremesinghe and Basil Rajapaksa fail.

The SJB secured 54 seats, including seven National List slots, the second largest group elected at the last parliamentary polls in August 2020, whereas the parent UNP was able to scrape just one National List seat.

MP Jayawardena said that as the UNP hadn’t been so far able to propose a tangible plan of action to overcome the continuing economic/political/social crisis, it couldn’t expect political parties to extend their support to the UNP leader.

Two SJB MPs, Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando, during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as premier, joined the government in May 2022. But since he became president in July 2023, no SJB MP switched his or her allegiance to RW. However, the absence of Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Thalatha Atukorale, both ex-ministers was noted while SJB Chairman Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, MP, who has been in loggerheads with Sajith Premadasa left the venue before the conclusion of the day’s proceedings. Reportedly Fonseka had not been given a speech.

On Wednesday morning, the president joined the Ceylon Workers Congress, widely regarded as the strongest trade union/political party among plantation workers, at its May Day rally at the Kotagala public grounds. The single largest political force representing the upcountry Tamils, the CWC now supports Wickremesinghe after quitting the ruling SLPP on whose ticket it ran at the last parliamentary election. Jeevan Thondaman represents the CWC in Wickremesinghe’s cabinet while Senthil Thondaman is the governor or the Eastern Province.

The Sunday Island learns that the CWC had been negotiating with the SJB but decided to go along with Wickremesinghe on the basis of the agreement on a Rs 1,700 minimum daily wage for plantation workers announced on their May Day platform on Wednesday.

Clearly, Wickremesinghe and Thondaman wrong-footed Premadasa, whose party in collaboration with Palani Digambaram, MP, organized a May Day rally at Talawakelle. Although former national cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga’s appearance caught public attention, the declaration of Rs. 1,700 daily wage hogged the limelight.

The EPDP, represented in Cabinet by Jaffna District MP Douglas Devananda, joined the ruling SLPP’s rally at the Campbell Park. His spokesperson Nelson Edirisinghe told us that the party would support Wickremesinghe at the forthcoming presidential poll. He clarified that the EPDP contested the last parliamentary election on its own and won two seats in Jaffna and Vanni.

The ruling SLPP held its rally, minus some of its members, as well as key constituents of the original coalition. The SLPP that had won 145 parliamentary seats, including 17 National List places have lost nearly 30 MPs since the last general election. Of them, six led by former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris joined the SJB’s Colombo rally. Other members of Prof. Peiris’s group were Dilan Perera, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Wasantha Yapa Bandara, K.P.S. Kumarasiri and Dr. Upul Galappaththy.

Other original members of that group, including Matara District MP Dullas Alahapperuma who ran for president against Wickremesinghe in a parliamentary vote after Gotabaya’s resignation, hadn’t been able to reach a consensus regarding their future course of action, sources said. Therefore, they refrained from either joining any other political party or organizing an event of their own to mark May Day. That group included MPs Alahapperuma, Prof. Channa Jayasumana, Charitha Herath, Ratnapala Ratnasekera, Lalith Ellawela and Thilak Rajapaksha.

Patali Champika Ranawaka, who entered Parliament on the SJB ticket, didn’t organize a May Day event. A senior spokesman said that they were preparing for the convention of their party due shortly. Former Minister Ranawaka leads the Eksath Janaraja Peramuna that received the Election Commission’s recognition last year. Another elected member of the SJB to skip May Day was Kumara Welgama, leader of New Lanka Freedom Party.

The Wimal Weerawansa-led Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya (ULS), which is another active SLPP rebel group, held its rally at the Lalith Athulathmudali playground, Kirulapone. National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and former Minister Wimal Weerawansa chaired the meeting, in his capacity as the Chairman of the alliance comprising the Communist Party (represented by Dr. G. Weerasinghe and Weerasemana Weerasinhe, MP), Pivithuru Hela Urumaya of MP Udaya Gammanpila, Our Power of People Party of Ven. Atureliye Rathana, MP, in his capacity as the leader of Dharani Jathika Sabhawa. and civil society group Yuthukama (Gevindu Cumaratunga) joined the rally.

This party declared in unison at its May Day rally that it was the only grouping genuinely opposed to President Wickremesinghe’s agenda inimical to national interests. Addressing quite a significant crowd, former minister Gammanpila found fault with ousted President Gotabaya Rajapakasa for ruining the mandate received by him as a result of caving into US interventions. The outspoken lawmaker named US Ambassador Julie Chung and dual citizen Basil Rajapaksa as the two advisors who caused the President’s downfall.

Gampaha District MP Nimal Lanza’s ‘New Alliance,’ consisting of SLPP MPs, too, kept away from Campbell Park. That group has pledged its support to President Wickremesinghe but decided not to join the UNP rally until the official declaration of Wickremesinghe candidature. It was quite agitated by the UNP’s decision to further delay the official announcement.

State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said that the majority of the SLFPers, who had been elected on the SLPP ticket, decided to keep away from May Day rallies. They included the majority of the 14-member SLFP group sitting in Parliament now.

MP Alagiyawanna said that a May Day meeting that had been organized in Gampaha by Maithripala Sirisena faction of the party was meant to boost the image of Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, whose appointment as Acting Chairman of the SLFP was restrained by a court order. Obviously, at the time MP Alagiyawanna talked to us he wasn’t aware of former President and SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena’s declaration that Rajapakshe would be their (SLFP) presidential candidate. Sirisena too has been retrained from leading the SLFP by a court order.

Sirisena who left the SLFP’s Gampaha May Day rally to attend the commemoration ceremony of the late T.B. Ilangaratne in Colombo acknowledged that 11 of his MPs now served Wickremesinghe’s interests but he was able to win over a key member of the UNP leader’s cabinet.

The SLFP rally attended by only two MPs – Maithripala Sirisena and Dushmantha Mithrapala -attracted just a fraction of the crowds the party once attracted over the years. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, another key member of the group opposed to Sirisena’s leadership, was out of the country. Minister Rajapakashe declared his readiness to take up the challenge to run for president and his right to do so at the Gampaha rally.

MP Dayasiri Jayasekera, once SLFP Secretary, said that he didn’t organize any event as a member of the SLFP but addressed a gathering organized by Prabha Ganeshan, a member of a political grouping recently set up by the SLFPer.

Both Wickremesinghe and Premadasa reiterated their commitment to the IMF package at their May Day rallies though Sajith vowed to renegotiate it. Wickremesinghe again sought SJB and JVP/NPP backing for the IMF program that had been repeatedly attacked by the Opposition.

But whatever the disagreements, the UNP, SLPP and SJB agreed on the need to counter the strong challenge mounted by the JVP/NPP. Their fire was mainly focused on the JVP’s second insurgency launched in the wake of Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987 and the induction of the IPKF here to subdue the LTTE.

The JVP held four rallies, including one in Colombo, whereas two breakaway factions, the NFF and Peratugaami Pakshaya, addressed supporters separately. The NFF is a member of the ULS. JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared that his party is confident of victory whatever national election is held first. What surprised many was AKD’s attack on Wickremesinghe over the latter’s dependence on India when he too is under fire for his own Indian links.

Another development that attracted public attention was Sagala Ratnayake addressing the UNP May Day rally in his capacity as the party’s National Organizer in spite of journalist Lasantha Ruhunuge, on behalf of the ‘Annidda’ newspaper, questioning the Election Commission as to how the President’s chief-of-staff, as a public servant, engaged in politics.