Geneva debacle further divides UNP
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe leaves for Sikkim tomorrow on his continuing journeys of visiting Buddhist places of worship in the North Eastern Indian highlands. Enroute he will be stopping over at the Taj Hotel in New Delhi where he will be also attending the conference on "Delivering Inclusive and Sustainable Development". It is organised by the South Asian Policy and Research Institute (Sapri) of which former President Chandrika Kumaratunga is the chairperson.
According to Ms. Kumaratunga, 'Sapri' is a non-partisan and not-for-profit institute spanning the South Asian region from Afghanistan to Bhutan and the Maldives. Among its objectives is to provide its research based colloquia to decision makers, opinion leaders and social activists "who may wish to adopt best practices". A local wag was to say that 'Sapri' ought to have been there a decade or so ago.
In New Delhi, Mr. Wickremesinghe is due to meet Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.
Back at home, Wickremesinghe's party continues to be divided. This week several of its partymen were complaining that they were not given an opportunity to speak at the two-day Parliamentary debate on the 'Geneva debacle'.
A party spokesman, however, said that the decision to hold a two-day debate was taken only last Friday and the UNP had decided to ask Ravi Karunanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera and Ajith Perera to speak. Then, Harin Fernando's name was included together with the three MPS who studied the LLRC report, viz., former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, former Deputy Foreign Minister Lakshman Kiriella and former Speaker Joseph Michael Perera. The UNP Leader had then asked M. Swaminathan, a National List MP, to be added.
The spokesman said that suddenly on Monday and Tuesday several MPS said they wanted to speak. Among them were Sajith Premadasa, Karu Jayasuriya and Rosy Senanayake. These were from the Premadasa faction. Then, some Wickremesinghe supporters came forward. They included John Amaratunga, Palitha Ranga Bandara and Eran Wickremaratne. All these names were struck off the list of speakers. Any chance of them speaking would have existed only if the TNA was not to particpate in the debate, but it did.
The bickering between the two factions will continue after the Avurudhu holidays with the party planning its May Day rally in Jaffna this year and the Premadasa faction asking its supporters to ignore the Jaffna rally and attend the Governmentbacked commemoration for the death anniversary of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa on the same day in Colombo.