Sri Lanka opposition MP Mano Ganesan, who recently made an abortive attempt to bring President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) and the main opposition Samagi Jana Balewagya (SJB) together, said his own party has yet to decide on a future course of action in the event of an invitation to form a national government.
In a telephone interview with EconomyNext on Monday April 17, Ganesan said the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), which he leads, will decide when the time comes.
“We are part of the SJB-led alliance. We’re a separate party. We will decide at two levels: at the TPA level and at the SJB alliance level. We haven’t decided anything yet,” he said.
The Colombo district MP said President Wickremesinghe had told him in a recent one-on-one meeting that he would extend an open invitation to all parties represented in parliament to either join the government or to support its International Monetary Fund (IMF) backed reforms from the opposition. This invitation will likely be made after Sri Lanka’s agreement with the IMF is debated in parliament, some days after April 25 when parliament is set to reconvene after the National New Year holidays.
“He told me that any party can decide if they wish to join the government or to remain in the opposition and still work with the government by participating in the committees, which he said will be established for the implementation of the IMF reforms and other programmes,” said Ganesan.
Reforms such as privatisation will be among matters discussed at the committee level, the MP said.
“The World Bank is going to give us a loan, with minimum interest. That would be useful for the monthly cash transfers for low income groups,” he added by way of an example.
Asked if the president had mentioned cabinet portfolios, Ganesan said it’s still too early for such discussions, noting that the question of taking up cabinet positions would only arise in the event opposition parties decided to join the government.
“Right now, it’s just a general call,” he said.
Commenting on his efforts to reunite the UNP and the SJB, which broke off from the UNP in the wake of the 2019 presidential election, Ganesan said SJB and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and party secretary general Ranjith Madduma Bandara had communicated to him their refusal to agree to such an alliance.
“When I try to bring about unity and amity between two parties, if one party refuses to agree, I can’t stop them,” he said.
On Monday, UNP general secretary and former MP Palitha Range Bandara hit out at Premadasa for not supporting the government’s reform initiatives, amid seemingly unrelenting speculation that a number of SJB parliamentarians plan to cross over to the government. Though party spokesmen have flatly and loudly rejected these reports, SJB MP Nalin Bandara hinted last week that some crossovers could be expected, although it won’t be any kind of mass exodus. The SJB legislator, in fact, invited Wickremesinghe’s UNP to join a new SJB-led alliance that he said is on the cards.
Political analysts have noted that though differences between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa may be irreconcilable at present, the president and a number of SJB frontliners share largely similar worldviews, particularly when it comes to the question of reforms.
MP Ganesan reiterated the TPA, which comprises the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) led by him, the National Union of Workers (NUW) and the Up-Country People’s Front (UCPF), has yet to decide. He, however, remains critical of certain aspects of the Wickremesinghe administration.
While he acknowledges that some level of stability has been achieved over the past few months with some normality restored in the country, Ganesan attributes much of it to Sri Lanka’s decision to stop repaying debt, which he said has resulted in a surplus.
It is this surplus, plus India’s decision to extend a line of credit to its crisis-hit neighbour, that has led to the relative level of stability, he said.
“But at the same time, I have to agree that there has been an increase in revenue from tourism with more tourists coming in and in foreign remittances, which are good developments that are happening because a relative normalcy is prevailing in the country,” he said.
He insisted however that the reasons for this apparent return to normal is not exactly due to what the government says it is.
“Maybe in part it is down to the government managing, but there is a surplus of foreign reserves being used to bring in oil, food and medicines. India is also helping. They gave us four billion dollars, one billion of which was left unused.
“India extended the time limit on that at the government’s request. Those factors are helping us stay normal. Otherwise there would be scarcity,” he said.
Ganesan said the TPA welcomes the new anti-corruption bill, proposed as part of its commitments to the IMF in exchange for the international lender’s 2.9 billion dollar extended fund facility.
“We have always been demanding anti-corruption. The country has fallen due to three reasons: corruption, wastage and mismanagement. These three ills should go away,” he said.
The TPA is opposed to the new anti-terrorism legislation that the government plans to bring in. The party leader said he personally expressed to President Wickremesinghe his opposition to the anti-terrorism bill in its current form, which he claimed is worse than the widely criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
“Both Sri Lanka and the rest of the world have asked the government to repeal the PTA. But in the guise of repealing it, they’re bringing in a bill that’s even more dangerous.
“I have met the president and told him directly not to do that. He said he’ll consider it,” said Ganesan.
He added that the bill, which has yet to be taken up in parliament, should be amended with its problematic clauses removed.
“If that is done, we will support it, not otherwise,” he said.
“Any government in Sri Lanka having legislation to counter tourism is a reasonable thing. But it cannot be draconian. We shall wait and see what kind of bill the government brings in,” he said, adding that the president had told him that he is open to suggestions.
The MP has been spearheading a move to bring about a ‘Tamil caucus’ of parliamentarians representing Sri Lanka’s Tamil-speaking communities. Commenting on its progress, Ganesan said in addition to the TPA’s three constituent parties that largely represent Indian-origin Tamils, three other parties have expressed their support: the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) led by MP Selvam Adaikalanathan, the Democratic People’s Liberation Front (DPLF) led by MP D Sidhdharthan and the Tamil Makkal Kootani (TMK) formed in 2018 by MP C V Wigneswaran.
“We’re waiting for a response from the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK). Its leader Mavai Senathirajah spoke to me two days ago. He said they will positively consider it and come back to me after the holidays. Let’s see
“This is a first step. I have only written to four parties, out of which three have agreed. Once that is agreed, we will then call other Tamil parties and also the Muslim parties. We want all Tamil speaking parties in parliament as a caucus,” he said.
Ganesan stressed, however, that the proposed Tamil caucus will be expressing its collective aspirations within an undivided Sri Lanka.
“We express our collective views within an undivided, one Sri Lanka, where we want to share political power and wealth,” he said.