by K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga

The traitor will finally meet his waterloo by Friday after the masses verdict at the 2015 Presidential election would be announced. He has packed all his baggage and even obtained air tickets to a Western destination. He has already obtained Schengen visa, along with that if the British and the US, keeping his travel options open.

Unlike Sarath Fonseka who face the challenge even after he was abandoned by the common Opposition after his defeat, Maithripala Sirisena will not have guts to face the challenge single handedly. With his mentor Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga getting ready to fly back to London, Maithripala knows that he would be isolated after the impending defeat and would suffer similar fate like Fonseka.

Just when Maithripala got some self-satisfaction after some political meetings, Chandrika shattered his dreams with a controversial speech in their Jaffana rally last Tuesday.

Chandrika benignly referred to the late blood thirsty LTTE terrorist leader, megalomaniac Velupillai Prabhakaran as ‘Mr Prabhakaran’ several times at a Presidential election rally held in Jaffna on December 30.

Addressing the rally in English, Kumaratunga had said lands coming under High Security Zones in the North would be returned to the people, when Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena is elected President.

Referring to the late LTTE leader as ‘Mr Prabhakaran’ on several occasions, she had further stated that the new administration would cede full powers to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).

She had said that even though she tried to bring about greater devolution of powers during her tenure as President, she could not do so, since the necessary political support was not forthcoming from other parties. Kumaratunga who also said future President Maithripala Sirisena would legislate for greater devolution of powers.

Days after, Chandrika’s shameless speech boomeranged on Maithripala as more and more people in the South, even his close supporters, had expressed displeasure. He immediately rang Chandrika and politely asked her to be his strategic advisor and not a speaker.

They also played another gimmick to mislead the Sinhalese voters.

Fearing that Chandrika’s speech would lose his voters in the South, Maithripala also got well-known LTTE sympathiser to state that she has now association with the Opposition alliance.

Accordingly, the TNA’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Ananthi Sasitharan stated that she has defied the party’s decision to support Maithripala. Stating that she would not support either of the two main candidates, former LTTE political wing leader Ellilon’s widow made public statement in this regard.

As we had stated last week, the TNA announced its stance on the last moment. As expected the former Tiger proxy party which had been remote controlled by Prabhakaran from his jungle hideouts, announced that it would support Maithripala.

This was an unusual trend in Sri Lanka politics. Be it the TNA or any other major Tamil political party, has not directly supported a Sinhalese candidate at a national election. This is the first time that the TBA, or a major Tamil political party for that matter, is supporting a Sinhalese candidate at a Presidential election.

Hence, it is obvious that the TNA has secured a bonanza from Maithripala. In their lust for power, the Opposition alliance has agreed to anything and everything that TNA had demanded. Hence, the TNA leader R. Sambandan was more than happy to sing the agreement with Maithripala.

With the TNA announcement last week that they will support Maithripala, photographs of Prabhakaran and Maithripala Sirisena side by side had appeared in key Tamil Tiger haunts in both Toronto and London.

To many observers in both capitals, this did not come as a surprise given that Suren Surenthiran of the TGTF, the hilariously named Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, had stated in an Al Jazeera interview earlier this month that the ‘defeat of President Rajapaksa’ would enable them to take him before war crimes tribunals.‘Based particularly upon the performance of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the past – we decided that we would rather repose our faith in the joint opposition candidate Mr. Maithripala Sirisena rather than expect what has not happened in the past 10 years to happen hereafter,” TNA leader R. Sambandan told the media at a press conference in Colombo last week.

Observers stated that this is code for stating that Mahinda Rajapaksa is the enemyb- and that the sentiment follows closely the Tamil diaspora and Tamil Tiger rump line that the President, if defeated, could be taken before war crimes tribunals.

The instant reaction of jubilation in London and Toronto was predictable, and our photographers who were physically prevented from taking the pictures that had come up in Tamil Tiger shops and restaurants, stated that there were some poster-like pictures hung up on walls, of SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem with Prabhakaran taken in the Wanni, when the latter was alive.

TNA Parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and Sivasakthi Ananthan were seen with R.Sampanthan at the head table when the TNA leader and Sumanthiran made the statement about their show of support at a meeting held at Hotel Janaki in Colombo. Some of these individuals have been very flagrantly in cahoots with the Tamil Tiger front groups in Europe, and there was no doubt therefore that the Tamil Tigers were behind this declaration of fealty to Maithripala.

A day after the Toronto and London campaigns by the LTTE cohorts, Maithripala and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe came to Jaffna to herald this ‘pact with the Tamil Tigers’.

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Sirisena eats his own words

SLFP Senior Vice Chairman and Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said all slogans Maithripala Sirisena have already been negated by his own contradictory statements made from time to time.

Sirisena previously said that he is going to remove the Executive Presidency within 100 days after he becomes the President of Sri Lanka and then he says that he is going to limit the power of Executive Presidency. But now he is saying that he is going to retain some powers of the Executive Presidency including the powers of the Commander of the Armed Forces,” he said. Minister de Silva questioned these statements and asked how the public can maintain their trust on a person who has no confidence to make a direct decision.

Sirisena is looking forward to solicit the assistance of the SLFP to rule the country while creating a national government. But he will never receive the assistance of the SLFP as he wishes since the SLFP is not a political party without a policy and the SLFP has no intention of forming a national government after destroying the opposition,” the minister said.

Anyone can come to the government and accept its policies. The SLFP will never go for a national government,” de Silva said.

The Common Opposition Candidate has no clear vision about the future of the motherland. He is merely working to the dictates of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. He has no clear vision or a policy framework. They only want to remove President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena does not know that Wickremesinghe is using him to have executive powers which he failed to gain 24 times and the former President is using him to cover up the shortcomings during her rule,” Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said.

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‘You know what we want from Maithri’

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Parliamentarian R. Sambandan has told Foreign Correspondents that what the TNA wants is to achieve their final objectives under a future ‘Maithree’ government.

Sambandan had disclosed this when foreign correspondents spoke to him after a TNA press conference recently and posed several questions. The questions asked and the answers given by Sambandan are as follows:

Has the TNA signed a pact with Maithripala Sirisena?

What we want is not pacts or agreements but to achieve our objectives when Maithripala Sirisena wins.

What are these objectives?

That is what we have wanted from the incumbent President for the last 10 years. You all know what it is.

Supposing those are not given?

When Maithripala Sirisena wins, the Executive Presidency will be abolished. Thereafter, we will gain what we want through the means of Parliament. Our problem is the Executive Presidency.

What is your opinion about Rauf Hakeem’s demand for a separate Muslim administrative unit?

It is not wrong on their part to demand it according to their need.

When foreign correspondents asked him why does he not state these things in public Sambandan bade adieu and made a quick exit.

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Whither Sajith Premadasa?

Deputy leader Sajith Premadasa, arguably the most favourite senior figure in the UNP, is keeping an unbelievable silence, sticking his political activity only to Hambantota district.

It was reported that Sajith had told his confidants that he cannot dis his own political grave by brining Maithripala Sirisena to power. Whilst trying to give an impression that he is respecting the party’s decision to support Maithripala, Sajith has never addressed any of the NDF candidate’s meetings outside Hambantota district.

Comparing the then UNP leader R. Premadasa and his son Sajith who is incidentally the incumbent deputy leader, a senior UNP ex-minister said that there is a sharp difference in how the father and the son had acted during the lead up to the 1977 general election and 2015 Presidential election.

It was the then deputy leader R. Premadasa who single handedly took upon the challenge of bringing the UNP back to power after seven years. He went around the country, junction to junction and addressed thousands of pocket meetings. But his son is not doing likewise because he known that it would be the end of road for him if Maithripala comes to power. Hence, Sajith is making a calculated move,” he said.

Also keeping unbelievable silence in the UNP national organizer Daya Gamage who had once said that if the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and deputy Sajith Premadasa are not willing to contest 2015 Presidential election, that he is ready to face the challenge and become the UNP candidate.

But Ranil make a strategic move to avoid growing pressure against his party leadership by deciding to support Maithripala without fielding a UNP candidate for a Presidential election for the second successive time.

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SLMC’s separatist agenda

The SLMC is another traitor in the unholy alliance after President Rajapaksa had flatly rejected Rauf Hakeem’s request for a separate Muslim administrative unit in the Eastern Province.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary and Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that the SLMC demanded Government to offer them a separate administrative district for Ampara, Kalmunai and Pottuvil. But the President was not willing to betray the country for the SLMC vote and showed the door to Hakeem. But Maithripala camp agreed to give even more and embraced Hakeem and his men to the unholy alliance.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) is engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to realise one more goal in the international conspiracy to make Sri Lanka an unstable country,” he added.

Addressing a press briefing at the SLFP Headquarters last week, Minister Yapa said: We have already granted equal rights and opportunities to all, in all parts of the country while ending terrorism which affected the entire nation for over three decades. In such a situation, establishing a separate administrative district for Muslims can cause damage to peace and unity in the motherland. This unjust demand of the SLMC can be a threat to the unity of Sri Lanka.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa freed Sri Lanka from fear and granted equal rights and space for all communities with the aim of uplifting the living standards of all Sri Lankans. We also hope to build our nation in a peaceful environment and not create another ethnic clash in the country.” Yapa said the SLMC’s demand is extremely similar to the LTTE demand for Eelam.

They are trying to push separatism in Sri Lanka and create an unstable situation that would harm peace, harmony, reconciliation, social and economic development. Hence they have now joined hands with the Common Opposition which has no clear vision,” he said.

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Will it be another CMC election?

Remember the costly blunder which the UNP did at a previous Local Government election for the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC)? After the UNP’s nomination was rejected for some reason, the UNP got hold of an independent group which had already submitted the nominations to contest under the symbol a pair of spectacles.

The UNP then canvassed votes for the independent group and told its supports in Colombo to vote for the spectacles. They readily obliged and the unknown independent group headed by a poor three-wheel driver came from nowhere to capture power of the CMC sole with the support of the UNP.

But the three-wheel drive turned the Mayor of Colombo did not allow the UNP to do what they want, though the original understanding was for all elected members of the independent group to resign and name UNP representatives as replacements. Hence, the UNP efforts to elect the Independent group went down the drain and ultimately, the three-wheel driver ran the show.

Many UNPers are in two minds whether to vote for Maithripala, fearing whether he would do another three-wheel driver act, this time at the highest level. Although Maithripala had promised to make Ranil the Prime Minister and step down from the Presidency after 100 days, knowledgeable UNPers have serious doubts whether that would happen as promised.

Considering the mastermind behind the whole operation – Chandrika Bandaranaike, most UNPers say that the former President could not be trusteed as she is hungry for power. Once Chandrika plays her trump cards if the UNPers vote Maithripala to become the President, none would be able to challenge the President elect as he would enjoy legal immunity. Under such a situation, the agreement that Maithripala had signed would be a mere document and Maithripala, under the expertise of Chandrika, could take the entire UNP membership for a good ride.