Major political parties are re-positioning to gear themselves for parliamentary elections though when such an event would take place is uncertain. Prompting the exercise are developments in each other’s backyard.
Days earlier, Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa held an important round of talks with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) breakaway faction led by Dullas Allahapperuma and G.L. Peiris among others. The SJB is on the verge of forming an alliance with the 13-member breakaway group. For the SLPP breakaway faction, the major gain will be the support it is expected to extend for Premadasa’s candidature at a presidential election. In return, the immediate benefit for the 13 would be their ability to contest on the SJB ticket. Both will oppose the SLPP. The SJB has also won over Chandima Weerakkody, a former Deputy Speaker, by making him the organiser for the Habaraduwa electorate in the Galle District.
Another alliance is also being formed by the United National Party (UNP) whose leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is the head of the SLPP government. This week, Nimal Lanza, Negombo District parliamentarian, named the grouping as Alliance number one. It has its office at Lake Road, Rajagiriya. Lanza is now on a two-week trip to Australia. The aim of this alliance is for a tie-up with the UNP and like-minded parties. Before his departure, Lanza said that matters relating to the alliance would be handled by four persons during his absence. They are Susil Premjayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Nalin Fernando and Lasantha Alagiyawanna. He claims that over 40 parliamentarians are backing the new alliance and more would join. They too are opposed to the SLPP. If the assertions of numbers are correct, then the enlarged SJB and the UNP-Lanza group tie-up would become the two formidable factions at a future election.
Even if it is not hectic, the UNP is also making its own arrangements. On Thursday, its Working Committee, the main policy-making body, met at the party headquarters, Sri Kotha. Party General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara said it was decided to hold the 56th annual convention on September 10. The venue has now been changed to the large parking lot at D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha near Lake House. He said that a draft of the party’s new constitution was also presented at the meeting and was approved. Final approval will come at the annual convention. The new party constitution, he explained, would take into consideration the system changes sought by the party members and even during last year’s protests (aragalaya) would be factored in. Among other matters, the constitution will spell out how to appoint members to the Working Committee, the Executive Committee and the powers vested in them. Another significant feature will be the provision to enable the conduct of meetings online.
Though the SLPP has remained a strong group, the advent of President Ranil Wickremesinghe has now seen a significant section including Cabinet ministers supporting him. The SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa, who had the majority backing, has seen the numbers dwindle with insiders saying it is now not more than 21 at the most. Further rivalry manifested after it became known that President Wickremesinghe was preparing to enforce the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and adopting measures to further strengthen it. The SJB-Allahapperuma talks, sources with the former said, are to be “concluded soon.” “We propose to have the signing of an accord within four to five weeks, the sources added.
Of course, there are other critical issues that must be resolved. That would include the wish expressed by the 13-member group that their leader Dullas Allahapperuma be appointed Prime Minister and the number of ministerial positions the group would receive if they won a majority at a parliamentary poll. On the minus side for the group of 13 has been their inability to form a new political party.
Those talks, no doubt, would be tough for both sides. One is reminded of the election of a President by Parliament on July 20 last year. Premadasa was a frontline candidate together with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dullas Allahapperuma and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Just ahead of the vote, Premadasa withdrew his candidature in favour of Allahapperuma. On Thursday, SJB parliamentarian S.M. Marikkar told a news conference that his grouping would be broadened to make it stronger but did not give details. Other than this aspect, the prospects of an unknown number of SJB parliamentarians re-joining the UNP is also not being ruled out.
The Dullas Allahapperuma group comprises G.L. Peiris, Dilan Perera, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Charitha Herath, Channa Jayasumana, K. P. S. Kumarasiri, Dr. Gunapala Ratnasekara, Udayana Kirindigoda, Dr. Upul Galappatti, Dr. Thilak Rajapaksa, Wasantha Yapa, and Lalith Ellawala.