Navin - a 'cake climb' up the greasy pole
Unlike the dynastic bottle neck that exists in the Rajapaksa- dominated SLPP to throttle pretenders to the throne, it is the incumbent right of each and every member of the UNP to aspire to the topmost post in the party even before its present occupant had, by a nudge or a wink, shown any inclination of giving up the ghost.
Thus when Navin Dissanayake -- the son of former UNP leader, the suave, savvy Gamini Dissanayake who tragically died in a Tiger bomb blast whilst contesting the ‘95 presidential elections -- lay early claim this week to the UNP crown, he was not only following in his beloved father’s footsteps but also exercising his inherent right as a member to chalk his slot in the long queue of aspirants to the UNP throne.
Speaking at a political meeting in Hatton, Navin Dissanayake said: “I am a straight-forward politician. I am one of the seniors in the party. I have been in the UNP for20 years. There are divisions in the party but I shall never leave the party. I joined Mahinda Rajapaksa’s SLFP for only three years to help end the 30-year war. I rejoined the UNP with the end of the war.”
Hold on. Joined Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party to end the war? For only three years? Doesn’t that call for a correction? If only to put the record straight?
It is uncertain whether Navin Dissanayake’s crossover from the defeated and depleted UNP benches in 2007 to join the triumphant SLFP’s swelling ranks contributed, even by a jot, to hasten the imminent end of Prabhakaran’s dimming star and bring the war to a close in 2009. No doubt the Armed Forces would have successfully ended the war, with or without his help.
What is certain, however, is that he not only stayed with the Rajapaksa’s SLFP for three years as he claims but stayed the whole course for eight years ensconced in perks, privileges and position as a Minister of the SLFP Government.
What is certain, furthermore, is how he helped strengthen Mahinda’s grip on power by his presence in the SLFP cheer squad when the draconian 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which rang the death knell to democracy, was passed in Parliament with 161 for and 17 against. He remained with the SLFP shaking the plum tree for himself until Mahinda called for presidential election in January 2015; and the pasture next door suddenly turned green.
After Maithripala Sirisena had jumped ship on November 21, 2014 to become the opposition’s common candidate and the winds of fortune had begun blowing in the UNP’s Sirikotha direction, Navin abandoned the SLFP vessel leaving his Ministerial posts of Public Management and Reform on the burning deck, and rejoined the UNP in the last week of November. The arrival of the returning prodigal at Sirikotha was greeted by Ranil, who rewarded him with a cabinet ministership when forming the UNP government following Maithripala’s polls triumph in January.
With the record set straight, what else did the ambitious 51-year- old Navin say last Sunday in Dimbula, Pathana? If party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, 71, ever has sleepless nights worrying over what his former deputy Sajith is engineering from the outside to topple him from his UNP pedestal, he will start having nightmares when he hears what the Turk near his throne is openly conspiring.
Navin Dissanayake revealed to his Hatton audience why Ranil had reached the world’s end as UNP leader. He declared in an adrenalin rush of ambition: “I think I can be the UNP leader. I will become the party leader and if I reach the top post of this country; the President or the Prime Minister, I will first work for the people of Nuwara Eliya. I have been in politics for 20 years, I am at the second or third position in the UNP and I want to become the number one.”
“The United National Party is the oldest political party in the country and a large number of national leaders have emerged from this party,” he continued. “It was the UNP that worked for this country. However, as everyone knows, the UNP is divided today. The leadership of the UNP should change. The same person who has been leader for 26 years cannot continue to be the leader of the party.”
Alas, poor Ranil. After having successfully thrown out one challenger to his leadership who has had to form his own party to survive in politics, he is now been told where to get off the bus by a former deserter of the party to boot. What next?
The expected rout at the August 5 polls will be served fresh as further proof of his failures and help to seal his fate, with calls for his resignation from the party leadership growing more strident and, unless the survival savvy Ranil comes out with a Machiavellian plot and script to save his bacon, the final curtain will fall on a fading 26-year-performance, playing Jonah paying the wages of defeat.
As for Navin, even if he delivers his unkindest cut of all to Ranil after polls, the UNP may not be that bankrupt of aspirants to allow him a ‘cakeclimb’ up the greasy pole.