{"id":106609,"date":"2020-09-14T22:59:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T04:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106609"},"modified":"2020-09-14T15:53:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T22:53:55","slug":"ruwan-wins-the-vote-to-succeed-ranil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/14\/ruwan-wins-the-vote-to-succeed-ranil\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruwan wins the vote to succeed Ranil"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

When the Working Committee of the UNP met yesterday\nat Siri Kotha  to decide who will succeed the Leader, Ranil\nWickremesinghe, the voting was decisive: 28 voted for Ruwan Wijewardene and 10\nvoted for  Ravi Karunanayake, according to informed Party sources. It was\na secret ballot. Shamal Senarath prepared the ballot papers. After the count\nRanil did not declare the results officially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting began around 4.p.m with the Working\nCommittee targeting  the 20 A. It was after that the issue of the next\nleadership came up.  Ranil began by saying that he had announced his\nintention to step down and according to Party rules it is necessary to appoint\na successor. The Working  Committee was meeting today to pick the new\nleader. He was not going to name his choice. This meant that he was going to be\nneutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first to open fire was Ravi Karunanayake. He\nled the attack pointing the finger directly at Ranil for not backing him. He\ntold him bluntly that he had worked for him loyally and served the Party to the\nbest of his ability. He said that he had also acted his Assistant Leader and he\nhad all the qualifications. Pointing a finger at Ranil he asked : What is\nwrong with me? Why can\u2019t I be the leader?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vajira Abeywardena urged the Ranil to name his\nnominee for the deputy leader as that would end any controversy. He said that\nno one  will oppose his nominee. We will all vote for your nominee\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakshman Wijemanne said that Ranil had said \nthat he would step down and it is time that he appointed Karu Jayasuriya as the\nLeader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe replied that this was nor the\ntime to discuss the leadership issue. The meeting was held  to discuss\nonly the deputy leadership. There is time to discuss the question of\nleadership, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navin Dissanayake said that Ranll has the power to\nappoint General Secretary, Chairman, Treasurer and he also could nominate the\nDeputy Leader.  And, therefore, he should nominate a deputy leader. Why\ndon\u2019t you do that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ranil that he was not going to nominate anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil also asked the other contenders about their\nstand on the deputy leadership. Arjuna Ranatunga, Ranga Bandara, Daya Gamage,\nAkila Vajia Abeywardena, who had put out publication to boost his  chance,\nhad declined at the last minute, leaving the contest open  for Ruwan and\nRavi. At this point Ruwan Wijewardene was asked by Ranil what his position was\non this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruwan  explained that he has come forward at\nthe request of the people and he had to respect their wishes. They had asked\nhim to lead the Party in this  critical hour. He said that it was a\nrequest that he could not turn down.  He said he was ready to take on the\nresponsibilities of restoring the Party to its former glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil in his speech said that the issue of Deputy\nleader has been settled. There is still time to discuss future steps. The\nquestion of leadership will be discussed at a later time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Party constitution the term of the current Working Committee will end in December. A new Committee will be appointed by the new leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting lasted till about 6.30. It has\nvirtually ended the leadership issue that has plagued the Party in recent\ntimes, which culminated in Sajith Premadasa running away with the majority to\nform his wing of the UNP. However, political sources noted that Ranil\nWickremesinghe will not step down from the leadership yet. He will remain as\nleader till end of the year. One of his mission in the interim will be to groom\nthe new leader and ease him into his chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Working Committee did not discuss the issue of\nRanil being kicked upstairs into the UNP seat waiting to be filled by a Party\nnominee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the surface level it looks as if Ranil has\nthrown his weight  behind his nephew. But the numbers that worked of Ruwan\nindicate that the Working Committee has democratically elected the best of the\ntwo candidates. Between Ravi and Ruwan there was no other option \u2013 not to the\nWorking Committee that has faced the worst defeat in the history of the UNP.\nWhat happened to the UNP at the Presidential and Parliamentary elections was\nstunning. It is like the entire population getting together and levelling the\nHimalayan mountain to sea level.  The task before the new leader is to\nraise the Party from the bottom to it former height. Rejuvenating the Party and\nregaining its historic status is the immediate task of the Party. To achieve\nthis the UNP needs not only a new face but a clean face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To his everlasting credit it must admitted that\nRanil Wickremesinghe, the departing leader of the UNP, has done two great deeds\nfor the nation : 1. He established the ambulance service with the help of the\nIndians and 2. Put his weight behind the election of Ruwan Wijewardene as the\nnew leader of the UNP. He had the choice of backing Ravi because the latter was\nhis No.2 at the Right-wing International Democratic Union (IDU). Ravi, indeed,\nwas the clone of Ranil in matters that were foreign. Both of them were the Sri\nLankan representatives at the IDU. That is the closest political alliance\nlinked by a Right-wing party to the Right-wing of the Western establishment.\nThe Communist Party had links to  the Second Comintern under Stalin. Ranil\nand Ravi were hoping that they could reap substantial international and\neconomic benefits being a part of the Bush-Howard-Thatcher gang. But it didn\u2019t\nwork they hoped it would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, Ravi\u2019s is not the kind of material that\nwould the inspire the nation to follow him. His image was ruined with his\ninvolvement in the Bond scandal. He was also linked to the issue of money he\nreceived from the convicted LTTE wheeler-dealer in New York, Raja Rajaratnam.\n\nRuwan,\non the contrary, has the credible and unsullied record behind  his image.\nIf the UNP is to go anywhere it has to be on the back of one who can take it\nback to its roots of the Senanayakes. And who in the UNP can fit into that role\nother than Ruwan, the great-grandson of DS\u201d? \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala When the Working Committee of the UNP met yesterday at Siri Kotha  to decide who will succeed the Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the voting was decisive: 28 voted for Ruwan Wijewardene and 10 voted for  Ravi Karunanayake, according to informed Party sources. It was a secret ballot. Shamal Senarath prepared the ballot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}