Sirisena revolt: Presidential

Ranil and CBK playing crucial role in formulating strategy for the common opposition candidate; Sajith to handle grassroots campaign Mangala, Ven. Athureliya and Rajitha to spearhead campaign; Ven. Sobhitha attends meeting More crossovers soon; Chandrika

There are neither permanent friends nor permanent interests when it comes to politics in Sri Lanka. The players involved keep changing roles and shift their solemnly declared ideals from time to time.

The search for a presidential candidate by the main Opposition United National Party (UNP), for a second time in four years, lays bare this fragility of a recurring political drama. It had the shades of the January 2010 presidential poll where former Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka, emerged as the 'common candidate.' Only a few weeks ago, the grand old party, the UNP, was to nominate its national leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe to be its presidential candidate. Sitting next to him at a meeting, the new deputy leader, Sajith Premadasa, declared that he would be the alternative if his leader was not willing to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Yet, he demanded a heavy price - that he be made leader of the UNP so he could defeat President Rajapaksa. He also declared that the symbol should be the UNP's Elephant.

By Friday, both Wickremesinghe and Premadasa had changed their minds. The duo were among the UNP parliamentarians and Provincial Council Opposition Leaders who unanimously endorsed a proposal by Wickremesinghe that Maithripala Sirisena be the common presidential candidate of the Opposition. Until that day, Sirisena remained Minister of Health and more importantly, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the largest partner in the ruling UPFA coalition. Thus, it is a Rajapaksa Cabinet's key Minister who is the main contender.

The move came barely 24 hours after Rajapaksa issued a proclamation. Signed at the auspicious time of 1.02 p.m. on Thursday whilst party organisations were asked to light crackers, it said: "KNOW YE that by virtue of the powers vested in me by paragraph (3A) of Article 31 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, I, Mahinda Rajapaksa, President, do by this Proclamation, hereby declare my intention of appealing to the People for a mandate to hold office, by election, for a further term." Earlier, on Wednesday during an SLFP Central Committee meeting that followed the weekly ministerial session, Senior Minister A.H.M. Fowzie proposed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the presidential candidate. It was seconded by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. It was the first hint. Sirisena as party General Secretary was not among the two to propose or second the name of the president.

There is little doubt that Maithripala Sirisena is a formidable opponent. Adding great weight to his candidacy is the array of personalities and political parties backing him. Heading the list is his mentor, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who did most of the talking behind-the-scenes to put together the new line-up. The breakaway Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) monk-MP, Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera took credit for setting the ball in motion. In 'Temple Trees' the Government felt that it was the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that was urging Sirisena to come forward. To his credit, Wickremesinghe carried his party with him on the broader consensus reached -abolish the executive presidency within 100 days of being elected -- and make him Prime Minister.

A group of ruling party ministers and MPs crossed over signalling the formation of a broad new joint Opposition political front. They sat on a hurriedly set up stage at the New Town Hall with convener Kumaratunga, and Sirisena. A live telecast of the event was a turbo charged boost. The array included Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Educational Services Minister Duminda Dissanayake, and Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs Deputy Minister M.K.D.S. Gunawardena. Parliamentarian Rajiva Wijesinha and Arjuna Ranatunga were also present. The ministers and the deputy minister came to the event even without resigning their portfolios and were later removed by Rajapaksa. Later that day, Nuwara Eliya District UPFA parliamentarian Perumal Rajadurai joined in. Also joining the UNP was Wasantha Senanayake, Gampaha District UPFA MP. He wanted to be the first to leave the Government, not to be a follower. He had said he was returning to the "Maha Gedera" (main house - as the Senanayake family were UNPers). The sponsors say they expect "more ministers and MPs to cross over in the coming days." Kumaratunga gave the figure of 32 cross-overs. UNP frontliner Lakshman Kiriella gave the figure of 60. At 'Temple Trees' the count was 11.

If a section of the SLFP has now joined hands with the UNP, on board so far is the JHU. Talks were under way by some senior UNPers to draw in the JVP, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and even the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Such a potent opposition force would undoubtedly come as heavy pressure for Rajapaksa.

The JVP declined comment. TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, told the Sunday Times, "This candidature is now made public. I listened to Mr. Sirisena's speech on television. It contains progressive views. We will have to meet to take a decision. We will also consult our people. There is time since the nominations are in December." Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem said consultations with the Government were on. "No commitments have been made until the conclusion of discussions. The Party High command has to meet and approve any final decision."

Yet, Hakeem has not been unmindful of the events unfolding. He was keeping himself informed of up-to-the minute developments through his own channels of information. Naturally, countermeasures were being taken. Some of the suspect Ministers and MPs have come under close watch whilst others were being approached. Government MPs were assured that their grievances would be redressed. In fact, Rajapaksa had held at least two meetings with Minister Sirisena to persuade him not to leave. The move came as further confirmation that Rajapaksa was keeping close tabs on developments. Another minister who came under close scrutiny was one who was reportedly making acidic remarks about the President and his family.

The new Opposition grouping emerged literally out of the blues. UNP national leader Wickremesinghe and his close confidant Malik Samarawickrema returned from a private visit to Hong Kong last Wednesday, They were locked in a series of consultations with former President Kumaratunga at her Torrington Square residence. President Rajapaksa was aware of this meeting on the night of the proclamation. As revealed in these columns last week, UNP's efforts to form a less formidable 'common front' were stymied. This was after Democratic Party (DP) MP Tiran Alles arranged a meeting for Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, leader of the National Movement for Justice and Equality (a would-be partner in the front) at Alles' parental home at Kuruppu Road in Borella. There the venerable Thera met President Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. Later, Ven. Sobitha entered the Malabe Teaching Hospital owned by Dr. Neville Fernando, a staunch supporter of the Government. The signing of a 'common programme' set for November 17, at Hotel Galadari had to be called off. Amidst Ven. Sobitha's night rendezvous, some would-be members of the 'common front' were to demand that the UNP candidate should be made known well ahead of the signing of the 'common programme.'

The deal to form a new broad Opposition front was wrapped up on Thursday night at the meeting Wickremesinghe held with Kumaratunga. There, she handed to the UNP national leader a signed document from Sirisena assuring that Wickremesinghe would be the Prime Minister if and when he is elected President. Later, at the news conference at the New Town Hall, Sirisena also made a public statement confirming that Wickremesinghe would be the Premier. The former President had launched her own initiatives for twin reasons: Firstly, the UNP's efforts to form a 'common front' and sign a 'common programme' had been sabotaged by the Ven. Sobitha-Rajapaksa meeting brokered by Alles. Secondly, Kumaratunga stalled moves by her friend and ally, Mangala Samaraweera to join the Government ranks. She asked the former Foreign Minister in the Rajapaksa cabinet for time to formulate some measures to set the ground for a common grouping with declared objectives.

With finality at the Thursday night discussion, Wickremesinghe summoned his party MPs and Provincial Councils Opposition Leaders for a meeting at Siri Kotha, the party's headquarters, on Friday morning. He proposed that the General Secretary of the SLFP be the candidate at the upcoming presidential elections. He did not mention Sirisena by name and some of the participants at the meeting said it was then premature. That was because he was still a Minister in the Government. Wickremesinghe's proposal was adopted unanimously. Among the backers was Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa. In a brief speech Premadasa endorsed the move. It is not unusual for political parties in Sri Lanka to have their own comical moments when important issues are discussed. The one for the UNP came when industrialist Daya Gamage, National Organiser, known for his funding of the party, declared that if the search was for a 'common candidate,' there was no one more suitable than himself. Hence, he declared that he should be considered. Karu Jayasuriya was to remark that individuals did not matter but it was the issue -the abolition of the executive presidency. He said it was time now for the party to get down to that task. Among others who spoke was Kabir Hashim, the UNP Chairman.

The UNP had summoned a meeting of its Working Committee, its main policy making body, for 4 p.m. on Friday. Like he did with the party MPs, Wickremesinghe was to obtain the consent of its members to support Sirisena as the presidential candidate. Even before the UNP working committee meeting had started, Kumaratunga and Sirisena were at the New Town Hall together with others who crossed over. They held a news conference. Sirisena began by reciting the Dhammapada. Here are highlights of what he said:

"I am the General Secretary of the SLFP and for 47 continuous years I have been a member of the party. I have been the General Secretary for 13 long years. The SLFP was founded under the leadership of S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike in 1951.

"Many others who were like minded joined him to form the party and in the 67 years since, I have been the longest serving General Secretary. The SLFP, the UNP and several other parties have come to a common agreement on the changes that have to be made in this country and we have come to a policy agreement. The official announcement with regard to this will be made in the coming few days and will be made known to the public soon. I must extend my thanks to those who joined to assist in the journey to reach a common goal and for selecting me as the common candidate in the upcoming presidential poll. I must thank President Chandrika Kumaratunga and UNP leader Ranil Wickremaisnghe.

"There is a long list so I will not mention all of them but I wish to thank them all. For the sake of this country for choosing me as the common candidate, I wish to extend a very special thank you to the UNP leader and the Working Committee of the party for being generous enough to choose the General Secretary of the SLFP to be the common candidate. The UNP made a big sacrifice by doing this. This is the