Ranil to take tough line on disciplinary matters
The United National Party (UNP) leadership said yesterday the party should emulate the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) when it came to maintaining discipline and the UNP propaganda machinery. They said action should be taken against the dissidents and those who refuse to comply with party directives
just as the JVP did by expelling its dissidents from the central committee.
These comments were made by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake at the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya headquarters during the launch of its campaign to restore the rule of law.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said tough action would be taken against those who failed to attend the website launch and added that those who were absent would be asked to explain their absence.
He said all members should work together to face government threats. Those who were not prepared to do so would be sacked.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said little or nothing would be achieved through a media campaign alone and urged the members to undertake houseto-house campaigning in the future.
He said the JVP was able to secure 39 seats at the 2004 general election by conducting a house-to-house campaign while the two main parties the UNP and the SLFP were depending on media campaigns.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said the JVP had done well by deciding to expel all its members from the central committee.
He said UNP too should take such tough action if it wished to maintain party discipline. “No members should be allowed to make public statements as and when they decide to do so because in the long run it would be the party which would be affected,” Mr. Attanayake said.
He said working committee meetings would in future be limited to discuss and review UNP campaigns and other propaganda programmes of the party.