Will Mahinda and JO Leaders Vote for the No Confidence Motion Against Ranil?
Posted on March 5th, 2018
Dilrook Kannangara
If all go to plan, the no confidence motion against Ranil by the courageous and patriotic UNP MP Vasantha Senanayake will be taken up on March 7, 2018. Will Mahinda and JO leaders vote for it, or will they prefer to abscond? If they fail to vote in support of the no confidence motion, it proves beyond all doubt that they have a secret pact with the UNP. After implicated in the largest bank fraud of the world and after messing up with national security, law and order and the economy, no right thinking person would save him.
UNP MP Vasantha Senanayake must be commended for his courage and patriotism if he actually manages to bring in the no confidence motion. Although the JO vowed to do so at the start of the year, they have failed and they are unlikely to ever do so.
This follows a series of dubious action and inaction from JO leaders for the past 3 years. Those who are in leadership roles of the JO publicly boasted about bringing a no confidence motion against Ravi Karunanayake in 2015 over the central bank bond fraud. Had it been done properly, the second associated fraud would not have taken place. A funny no confidence motion was handed over to the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa at his official residence on May 19, 2015! When did no confidence motions become matters outside the parliament? This was a gimmick to fool the public. Obviously it was not taken up in parliament for over a month and the parliament was dissolved on June 25, 2015. The MPs should have handed it over to their very own Speaker in parliament (not outside) and the Speaker should have taken up the matter within one month.
In 2016 a proper no confidence motion was handed over to parliament and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya duly took it up for debate and voting within a few days. However, Mahinda and some key JO leaders were absent from debate and voting!
After presidential commissions handed over their findings of the bond scam, JO leaders vowed to bring a no confidence motion against Ranil whose name was also included in the report. This was at the start of the year. Over three months have passed but the JO no confidence motion is missing in action.
It is politically expedient to keep Ranil as Prime Minister for the Mahinda camp but from a national point of view, it is treason. Ranil has done enough damage to the national economy and national security that he must go. The longer he is kept, the more damage he does to national interests. He is already a failure as law and order minister. So was his predecessor Sagala Rathnayake. Just for two weeks, police brutally attacked students, farmers and workers but turned a blind eye to communal incidents in Theldeniya and Ampara that resulted in the killing of a Sinhala man and poisoning of a Sinhala party at an eatery. Obviously the SLPP has also turned a blind eye while their supporters demand that it disregards the sad plight of Sinhalese. There are more than one reason why social media are abuzz with claims of a UNP-SLPP behind the scene pact possibly going by these action that seem well concerted. It is hoped that JO leaders and MPs will vote for the no confidence motion against Ranil though the past and social media theories point to the contrary. By the way, I’m still waiting for that elusive JO no confidence motion against Ranil that is still a work in progress since late last year.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:13 pm
Not sure about otheres, surely Mahinda will be too busy to come to parliament that day and even if he comes he has not time to hear through the debate and vote for it.
He has much to do outside and we should excuse him.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:14 pm
Dilrook
It is other way round. JO is to submit no-faith motion against PM tomorrow. UNP MPs like Vasantha Senanayake and Range Bandara are supporting it without putting their signatures.
March 5th, 2018 at 3:45 pm
@Neela
I’m skeptical for good reasons. This may be a ploy to dilute the UNP MP’s no confidence motion and not do anything in the last moment. UNPers will be reluctant to vote for a no confidence motion brought against their leader by rivals. But they are far more amenable to a motion brought by their own.
There will be plenty of excuses tomorrow. Udaya is not the JO leader. It must come from Mahinda, Dinesh or Wimal.
I’m delighted to be proven wrong tomorrow.
March 5th, 2018 at 3:52 pm
Agree with NeelaMaha Yoda. It is the JO who are pioneering the no confidence motion against Ranil, although having him continue as pm is electorally advantageous to them in the long run. They are due to submit it in parliament today (March 6, 2018), according to the media including Lankaweb. Considering the authoritarian control that the aged rogue is maintaining over the UNP (and he is trying to impose it on the country), even if this motion is successful, he won’t be flushed out of his self arrogated leader- for- life position in the party (There is no credible leader who is courageous enough to challenge him within the party; Vasantha might stand some chance.) If Ranil fails to survive this no confidence motion, he will ensure that the incoming pm (it will definitely be from the UNP) will be at his beck and call. On the contrary, whatever Mahinda Rajapaksa does he will do for the benefit of the country (as his track record proves), but unlike Ranil Wickremasinghe who will stoop to any depth of perfidious treachery to grab power, he will not resort to cowardly hole and corner methods.
March 5th, 2018 at 11:04 pm
I agree with Dilrook on this one. If Mahinda and the JO do not support a no confidence motion against Ranil, then it is obvious Mahinda has made a deal with Ranil to save his family and himself from the FCID.
March 6th, 2018 at 6:34 am
This Muslim – Sinhala CLASH in Theldeniya is a normal civil incident that has been EXPLOITED to PRE-TEXTUALLY ENGINEER a COMMUNAL CONFLICT by those who want to DIVERT ATTENTION AWAY from the INSTABILITY of the Yamapalanaya Govt, and PREVENT ITS IMPENDING FALL.
The arrival of HIGHLY ORGANIZED GROUPS from Ampara to Theldeniya to BURN Muslim Shops in retaliation for the DEATH of the Sinhala man who died on Sunday after being hospitalized on Feb 22nd, and the subsequent KILLING of a Muslim Youth yesterday, was HIGHLY ORCHESTRATED to keep the communal fires BURNING!
It is also an ATTEMPT to ALIENATE and DRIVE the tens of thousands of Muslims who VOTED AGAINST the Yamapalanaya in the RECENT LOCAL GOVT ELECTION away from the JO/Pohottuwa.
Finally, it is an ATTEMPT to CREATE an EMERGENCY and JUSTIFY the APPOINTMENT of Sarath Fonseka as the Minister of Law & Order, so he can FREELY SUPPRESS LEGITIMATE CIVIL PROTESTS against the Yamapalanaya by the JO/Pohottuwa that were scheduled to BEGIN with a Massive Meeting in Nugegoda on March 7, 2018.
These are the VERY SAME GOONS who created COMMUNAL CONFLICTS in 2014 to alienate minority groups, be they Christians, Muslims and Tamils, and DRIVE them away from the MR/UPFA Govt into the arms of the Yamapalanaya.
Ask YOURSELVES … who STANDS TO BENEFIT from this CIVIL UNREST on the EVE of the VOTE OF THE NO-CONFIDENCE against the PARA-GATHI AGA-MATHI Ranil Baba of the 40 Thieves?
The ANSWER is: None other than the CRIMINALS of the Yamapalanaya, DESPERATE to ILLEGALLY HOLD ONTO POWER at ALL COSTS, by FAIR MEANS or FOUL!