PM arranges alternative venue for Rajapaksa rally

Though they are arch opponents in politics, there is still camaraderie between former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when it comes to personal relations.

That is why Mr. Rajapaksa telephoned Mr. Wickremesinghe last Monday morning, just hours before the four-day long Opposition protest march from Kandy to Colombo entered the city limits.

He wanted to know why the Government was denying them a venue to hold a meeting. The one for which permission was granted and the charges were paid for was the Hyde Park in Colombo. The application for the venue was made by Vasudeva Nanayakkara, one of the ‘Joint Opposition’ stalwarts. At the eleventh hour it had been cancelled.

Premier Wickremesinghe was to explain that some restora- tion work had to be carried out at the park and hence that venue could not be made available. The next question from Mr. Rajapaksa centred on another venue. Mr Wickremesinghe said he would look into the request. The former President, who left for South Korea on Thursday night, was to remark to a confidant that the Premier was in a “jovial mood.”

Premier Wickremesinghe was to later tell President Sirisena about the matter. Concern over disruption of traffic and inconvenience to the public was discussed, among other things. It was decided to ask the Opposition to hold the rally at Campbell Park in Borella. That would have confined them into one part of the City instead of converging on a busy zone. The Police were advised to allow the rally and provide the necessary security.

Lalith Pathinayake, DIG Colombo, had a problem in hand. He was unable to reach ex-President Rajapaksa to convey the decision. He found his whereabouts through Mr. Rajapaksa’s Police security contingent. Mr. Rajapaksa was at the Abhayarama Temple in Borella.

DIG Pathinayake, who went there, handed over a letter of approval of the venue to Mr. Rajapaksa only to be told that they were not interested in it at that late hour. Arrangements had been made to hold it elsewhere. Indeed, plans had been finalised by then to allow the protestors to converge at Lipton Circus near the Colombo Town Hall. It was felt that this venue would have a better impact.

Interestingly, it was not only the Police who were using walkie-talkies for communications. So did one of the frontliners in the protest march, former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. He was talking to his colleagues leading the protest march some distance away and co- ordinating ar rangements. That included the positioning of a stage mounted on a van. The walkie- talkies had been hired from a private company.

If UNP ministers Kabir Hashim and Lakshman Kiriella made a strong attempt, which included action in the Magistrate’s Courts to stall the protest, it was a different story elsewhere.

A strongman, now from the United National Party ( UNP), had planned a rally in Kelaniya, his new home ground. There were those ‘ victims of Rathupaswela’ where there was an Army shooting on those protesting against a factory for reportedly polluting the water bed, had also wanted to show their anger at the protest marchers. However, these did not happen.