PRESIDENT BOLDLY REFUSES OPPOSITION LEADER REQUEST TO REJECT HIS PARTY MEN FROM JOINING THE CABINET BRINGING DEATH TO AN AGREEMENT OF COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES

By Walter Jayawardhana

President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka boldly told Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that he cannot accept the opposition leaders request not to welcome parliamentarians from the opposition benches into his government.

Pro Wickremesinghe elements in the now badly divided United National Party said the President’s refusal to accept the opposition leader’s request resulted in the collapse of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the ruling Sri lanka Freedom Party and Wickremesinghe headed United National Party for cooperation in and out of the parliament.

Political insider’s said Wickremesinghe was trying to tame his party’s worst rebellion against his leadership by party stalwarts who have been demanding the hierarchy to install an internal party democracy that would elect its offices rather than being appointed by the leader.

President Rajapaksa took this bold move of rejecting Wickremesinghe’s request not to accept his party’s rebels when a closed door meeting was held at the President’s official residence, The Temple Trees in Colombo.

Sources close to the Presidential office said, "The president made it clear that he was not fishing, but the opposition MPs were stalking him and were ready to cross over en masse."Sources close to the President said there was no clause in the MOU signed between the President’s party the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the the opposition Leader’s party, the United national Party any clause preventing opposition parliamentarians in to the government.

But sources close to the President said that the biggest exodus of party leaders, since the formation of the United national Party in its sixty year history were holding discussions with the President to join his cabinet.

One of the key backers of the Opposition leader Wickremesinghe and a man who has maintained secret deals with the Tamil Tigers, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena told news reporters that the October deal would be formally annulled if the government accepted any more defectors from the opposition to the cabinet.

"From the minute the cross-overs are accepted to the cabinet, our memorandum of understanding will cease to exist," Jayawardena said, speaking as a spokesman for the Wickremesinghe sect of the United National Party.

Wickremesinghe , has attempted to use the request of the foreign aid backers of the peace move like the European Union , the United States and key player India that a consensual resolution of the government and the opposition should be provided as a political solution to the warring LTTE to come to a peace agreement for his own political survival in his party and crush the inner party rebellion against him.

Many times he has met foreign envoys to stop earlier cross overs from his party to President Rajapaksa’s cabinet. One such envoy he met was the former High Commissioner (ambassador) of India in Colombo that caught newspaper headlines causing much embarrassment to all parties.

A large number of parliamentarians including the deputy head of the United National Party, karu Jayasuriya and a couple of other senior leaders of the UNP are expected to become cabinet ministers in a major cabinet reshuffle very soon.