MR’s secret meeting in Shangri-La?
How Sajith and the opposition pre – plan the APC scenario?
Will Lansa be able to break BR’s pohottuwa ?
Sets the background
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s first visit to India took place last weekend, exactly one year after assuming the presidency. Generally, when a new president or prime minister of Sri Lanka is appointed, the first invitation is received from India immediately, but many thought that it was a special occurance that India did not invite the president until a year had passed. However, when this invitation was delayed from India’s side, the President’s side had employed various strategies to get the invitation.
Exactly 07 months ago, the President called the Tamil MPs and held a discussion to solve the North East problem as one of the steps. Also, once the President publicly said that he would commit to providing solutions to the first North-East ethnic problem on Independence Day. But it was limited to words at that time and the President did not come up with any solution for the first Independence Day.
Under such a background, as soon as the President got time to meet the Prime Minister of India on July 21, the President once again took the necessary measures to set the necessary background. Presidential pardon was granted to a former LTTE member and another individual who had been sentenced to 200 years in prison for bombing the Central Bank. Also, the President made plans to call an all-party conference once again to find solutions to the ethnic problem in the North and East. Member of Parliament from the North, who has been working very closely with the President since the beginning, Mr. C.V. Wigneswaran was called to the President’s Secretariat late at night and took steps to discuss how to find solutions to the North East problem. The President did all this to prepare the necessary background for his two-day official visit to India.
Discussions at the dinner table
However, although this was considered a two-day official visit, the President was actually in India for less than 24 hours, and more than 7 hours were allotted for flights. Accordingly, after landing in India on the night of the 21st, the President first met Indian Foreign Minister Mr. S. Jayashankar. During that discussion, the President and Jayashankar had taken their dinner.
The following morning, a special discussion was held between the President and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. It was seen that the two had a discussion while having breakfast together. A discussion was organized with Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi over lunch, and before that, the President also took steps to discuss with Gautam Adani, a leading Indian investor in the country. In that discussion, Adani had informed the President that he is ready to invest more in projects that generate electricity from wind power and for the production of renewable energy. Adani took steps to inform this in an official twitter message. Discussions between the President and Modi began after that.
However, the biggest issue in these discussions was the issue of Chinese influence. There was a long discussion about what happened in Sri Lanka due to Chinese intervention in the past as well as possible Chinese activities in Sri Lanka in the future. Also, a point that India continuously pointed out here was that India and Sri Lanka should be closer geopolitically. Since a passenger boat service between the two countries has been started and abandoned, India pointed out that a bridge should be built to connect the two countries as it was in the past. India had taken a strong position that the two countries should have a proper transport system in a proper manner, hense the people of the two countries would be able to travel easily by bus and train. But the President did not give a direct answer, but inform India that it should be passed by the Parliament.
Separation of power
The other main issue discussed during the meeting between the President and Modi was the North East issue. There was another reason why Modi raised this topic at the discussion table. That is, before the President’s arrival in India, 4 special letters were addressed to Modi from the North. One letter was addressed to Modi by the leaders of 6 Tamil parties in the north, and another letter was by the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Mr. R. Sampandan.
Another letter was submitted to Modi by northern professionals, religious leaders and civil organizations, and the fourth letter was addressed by Mr. Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam. Apart from Gajendran’s letter, all the other 3 letters asked Modi to force the President to implement the 13th Constitution and hold the provincial council elections. Only Gajendran had requested Modi to go beyond the 13th Amendment and inform the President to provide a federal solution to the North.
Therefore, as a response to these letters, Mr. Modi informed the President in his speech in the middle of the discussions to arrange for the provincial council elections to be held immediately. With Modi’s unexpected announcement to hold the Provincial Council elections, the President was also seen to be in some trouble because the President was careful not to answer it in his speech.
Calls from the office
However, as previously planned, while the President was in India, the officials of the Presidential Secretariat made telephone calls to all political party representatives to inform them that the President had called an all-party conference on Wednesday and that the President had invited them to attend. It was a special incident that although there was a notification that there was a plan to discuss the granting of police powers during the implementation of the 13th amendment, no notification was given about an agenda for the discussion.
With this invitation from the President’s Secretariat, a conversation arose between all political parties whether to participate or not. Because 7 months ago, a similar all-party conference was convened to discuss solutions to the North-East problem, but it ended without any results, so many political parties had thought that this time the talks may also end without any results, and the President is preparing to start such a round of talks to show India.
Accordingly, in the first phase, the JVP announced that its party will not participate in the all-party conference called by the President.
Sajith in a common Stance
Also, Mr. Sajith Premadasa, who was the leader of the main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balavega, was of the opinion that he should think twice about participating in it as this is an eye wash by the President. But Sajith, who was not in a hurry to take a decision during the discussions held within the party, informed the party that they should meet the executive committee of the opposition general alliance and take a final decision on this. Also, Sajith was of the opinion that since the Tamil people are facing lot of problems, a decision should be taken after discussion with those representatives.
Accordingly, the first thing Sajith did was to discuss this matter with Sumanthiran, the representative of the Tamil Alliance. It was also said that the President is doing a ‘show’. This issue is a matter of trying to washing the hands putting the blame on the opposition. But Sumanthiran was also of the opinion that the conference should not be boycotted. Therefore, Sumanthiran was of the opinion that even if he participates in the conference, he should take a firm stand. Accordingly, at the end of this discussion, it was decided to participate in the conference and to influence the President regarding the division of power and holding the provincial council elections.
3 points from the opposition
After that, Sajith also took steps to meet the executive committee of the opposition common alliance. After a long discussion held there, Sajith and others decided to participate in the conference and comment on 3 main points. The first thing was that the president and the government should act with honesty and credibility in this matter. The second point was that before asking the opposition for solutions to the North-East problem, the government should present the solutions it is ready to provide. The third point was that the government should have been informed that all the postponed elections, including the provincial council elections, should be held at this conference.
Apart from these 3 points, another important point was also discussed in the society. It is about the ability of the government to issue various announcements on this and hold media shows. One of the MPs pointed out to Sajith that the government could play a ‘media game’ and that the party should be prepared to participate in this conference. Accordingly, it was finally decided that since the Presidential Media Unit could publish announcements containing distorted information about it, as soon as the negotiations were over, a press release would be issued by SJB informing the country immediately.
Another special decision was also taken here. That is, if it is understood that the President is preparing to use political ploys or tricks in this discussion, he should get up from the discussion at that moment.
In this way, after taking decisions within the party and within the general alliance, Sajith also took steps to reveal his position regarding the All-Party Conference to the country for the first time. It was during the ceremony of handing over the 73rd bus under ‘Sakwala’ to a national school in Bibile last Tuesday. There, Sajith strongly said that the party decided to participate in this all-party conference for the sake of the country and the people, but if the president is prepared to use political gimmicks as usual, he will immediately get up from the negotiating table.
Basil takes a tough decision
Apart from SJB and the general opposition, Pohottuwa also held a special meeting last week at his party office in Battaramulla to discuss what steps should be taken regarding the all-party conference called by the President. Many high level leaders of the party participated in this discussion which was called by Mr. Basil Rajapaksa. Everyone was of the opinion that the President has no mandate to interfere with the implementation of the 13th Amendment. Pointing out that the President is paying the remainder of the 69 lakhs mandate given to former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Pohottu chiefs also pointed out that there is no mention of the implementation of the 13th amendment in Gotabhaya’s ‘Vision of Prosperity’ manifesto.
Also, their position was that the President should not do anything that was not done by the previous seven Presidents who were elected by mandate. It was said that if the President wants to provide a solution to the North East problem, he should consult with various groups including the Maha Sangha and take a final decision. Accordingly, the Pohottu chiefs also decided to assign the responsibility of announcing all these facts officially to the Pohottu General Secretary Mr. Sagara Kariyawasam.
Sajith leave
Accordingly, on Wednesday evening, the All-Party Conference of the President’s Secretariat began in the midst such an atmosphere. The President, former President Maithripala Sirisena, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa were seated at the main table. After a brief briefing by the President on the purpose of the conference, former President Maithripala Sirisena was the first to comment. Because Maitri spoke some matters without any focus what so ever, it was not possible to see that the attention of the people gathered was drawn to anything he spoke.
After that, Mr. Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition, started his comments. Sajith said that the government should first carry out this work with credibility, and that the North East solution proposal should be presented by the government first. Sajith also said that the postponed provincial council elections should be held before strengthening the provincial councils. Having finished his speech, Sajith decided to leave the All-Party Conference due to a work he had shedulled earlier. But many people thought that Sajith stood up and protested unofficially at the conference.
Even though Sajith left the assembly, the nature of the conference was completely turned upside down due to the proposal that Sajith raised that the provincial council elections should be held immediately. After Sajith, Mr. Lakshman Kiriella started his speech.
‘Now there is no vote anywhere in this country. Local government bodies no elections. There is no provincial council election. I remember that during the Yahapalan government, all the provincial chief ministers were brought to discuss the division of power. I was also in that committee. Even there, there was talk of a division of power beyond 13. Therefore, there is nothing new to talk about this.
There is no big contradiction between the solutions you and we hold on the national issue. But before doing anything, hold election. As it is, the people of the country have no faith in this system. After Kiriella’s speech, Vigneswaran, who was continuously engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions with the President, stood up and said, “If we continue like this, we cannot imagine what will happen.” Wigneswaran pointed out the need to implement the 13, but to everyone’s surprise, Wigneswaran too pointed out the need to hold the provincial council elections.
Vigneshwaran also asks for election
Even in the Northern Province, there is no second or third level political leadership. There is anarchy. Therefore, hold the provincial council vote first. Then we can talk about devolution. The other is about police powers, but we can take a good example from the state of Pondicherry in India. The central government has provided a limited number of guns to the police in Pondicherry. If they want more, they can do it by talking to the central government and the police. But before talking about those, the election should be held…’ said Wigneswaran, making the situation even hotter.
After that, Sagara Kariyavasamya started commenting. As previously planned, Sagara said that the President does not have the mandate to exercise these powers.
‘Previously, seven former presidents did not work to implement this 13th amendment. That’s because there is a problem with this. On the other hand, you are holding the mandate given to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. There was no mention of the implementation of the 13th amendment in his vision of prosperity manifesto. Therefore, our opinion is that if we do this, we should take the advice of all parties including the Maha Sangharatna and do this with a mandate…’ When Sagara said, it was confirmed to all those present at the All-Party Conference that there is no agreement between the President and the government in this regard.
Apart from this, Udaya, Vimal and the group also took steps to express their usual protest regarding the implementation of 13 and the granting of police powers.
President gets angry
However, the hottest incident was witnessed in the last part of the two and a half hour long discussion. That was when Tamil Alliance Member of Parliament Mr. Sumanthiran protested while the President was speaking. Sumanthiran said that the President said that the 13th Amendment and the provincial council elections are not one but two, and that one of the two should be chosen and that both cannot be done at the same time. Therefore, it was Sumanthiran’s position that the provincial council elections should be held similarly to the implementation of 13th Amendment.
With Sumanthiran’s remarks, the President was seen to be angry in an unexpected way.
This is all I can do. If you guys can’t do it, I don’t have anything to do…’ and got up from the discussion without officially ending the discussion. Later, Sumanthiran took steps to mention this twice in front of the media. Accordingly, all the parties who spoke before the media after the discussion said that this all-party conference was a complete failure, that the government did not have any program to solve the North-East problem, and it was confirmed that there is no unanimity even between the President and Pohottuwa.
However, after this discussion, many started to find out why Sajith left after making his speech in the middle of the meeting. When they inquired about it, they came to know that Sajith had left to participate in the discussion with 30 female professionals that was planned to be held in the opposition leader’s office. In fact, after leaving the President’s Secretariat, Sajith had come straight to the office of the Leader of the Opposition. It was to join a discussion with 30 female professionals who which was scheduled two weeks ago. Sajith came to the discussion and sat down saying ‘I have come to participate in this discussion from a useless discussion. I realized that it is useless for the country and to the people, so I got up in the middle. It is more valuable for me to talk about the problems faced by people in your field…’
A complaint from Sajith
Last week, a special meeting was held at the Colombo Taj Hotel between the representatives of the Opposition General Alliance, including Mr. Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition, and a group of leading ambassadors from this country. It was seen from the beginning that the meeting was a great success because all the ambassadors and high commissioners attended it. In the discussion between the opposition leader Mr. Sajith Premadasa and the ambassadors, the emphasis was almost entirely on protecting the country’s democracy and constitution. In this regard, Sajith and his group worked to explain at length to the ambassadors about the actions taken by the current government, i.e. the anti-democratic program being carried out by postponing the elections.
All the countries represented by the ambassadors here are countries that protect the rule of law, countries that respect democracy. But the current government is blatantly violating the country’s democracy, rule of law and the constitution. The local government election has been postponed. They are trying to summon the judges who gave a court decision to hold the vote before the Parliamentary Privileges Committee. The officials of the Election Commission who are ready to hold the election are being prepared to be called before the Parliamentary Privileges Committee. Undemocratic decisions are being made through the parliament. The entire parliament has been taken over by the executive. When the opposition leader and others pointed out that there are people who approve and pass what the government says in the parliament, the ambassadors could be seen listening intently.
Here, one of the ambassadors who was listening to the speech of Sajith and others asked, ‘What kind of election do you want?’ Sajith gave an unexpected answer.
We are ready for any vote. But the country has a constitution. According to that, we only ask that the polls be held at the right time…’ was the answer given by Sajith.
However, during the friendly meeting held at the end of the discussion, almost all the ambassadors who came to Sajith said that they learned many things that they did not know in this meeting. They also told Sajith that they are ready to continue helping Sri Lanka. They informed that they will discuss the current situation with the government.
It turns back to Mahinda himself
A few weeks ago, former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had sent a letter to the Presidential Secretariat requesting payment of a water bill sent to his official residence. But in response, the President’s Secretariat had informed that the payment of bills is not among the privileges given to the Presidents, and this has even been confirmed by a court decision.
In this regard, they were able to uncover this during an investigation conducted by the Presidential Secretariat before sending a reply to Gota. This judgment was received during the term of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. After Mahinda came to power, due to some rift with former President Chandrika, he took steps to cut the privileges given to Chandrika one by one. A case was filed before the Supreme Court, where former Chief Justice Mr. Sarath N. Silva ruled that a former president is only entitled to an official residence, 3 official vehicles and security. It was said that no other privileges are available to former presidents. At that time it was known as a verdict against Chandrika.
However, after the good governance government came to power in 2015, once again, as usual, the former presidents started getting privileges by going beyond the court decision. Water bills, electricity bills had to be paid. But with the decision taken by the Presidential Secretariat regarding Gota’s water bill, now it is news that Mahinda also has to pay the water bill and light bill. Many people claim that what Mahinda did to Chandrika that day has come back in the same month.
Who is coming and going?
Last week we made a special revelation on this channel and reported the news that a new political office was opened in the Rajagiriya Lake Drive area, the news that it was opened under the leadership of Nimal Lanza, who was once a strong member of Pohottuwa, and the news that the office is ready to be used as the party headquarters of a new political alliance that will emerge in the future.
After this disclosure we have made, it is now known that many political parties have their eyes on this party office and the people going to it. The people who are eyeing this office the most are none other than the representatives at the Pohottu party office, which is a few kilometers away. It has also been seen how the leaders of Pohottu are searching through various parties for various information such as who are the Pohottu representatives coming and going to this office, what they are talking about, who are the people staying in this office full-time, etc.
However, from the information we have received, it is said that the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private secretary, Sugishwara Bandara, and former JVP leader Siripala Amarasinghe, who once worked very closely with the Rajapaksa, remain full-time in this new party office. On the opening day of this office, Sugeeswarath and Siripala Amarasinghe were seen standing in front of the invited guests. It is learned that the leader of the new political alliance operating from this place is none other than Nimal Lanza.
35 comes from the ‘bud’
Accordingly, Lanza’s office called the representatives of the village involved in Pohottuwa and informs them to join this new alliance. Phone calls from this office have informed that about 35 strong men of Pohottuwa are ready to join this new alliance by next September, therefore all thirty should join this new political alliance and prepare to face the next local government election or provincial council election. It is known that Also, after the 35 MPs of Pohottuwa officially join the party, ‘inside politics’ column learn that Lanza and his team have planned to hold a huge party convention at a huge cost.
However, after we reported this information last week, various news published on social media said that Education Minister Susil Premajayantha is also ready to join this new political alliance formed by Lanza. When several people called Susil and asked for information about it, Susil who was disturbed and said that the news was completely false and that he had not taken any such decision so far. Susil had further mentioned to his friends that he takes political decisions in a manner appropriate to the existing political situation.
A call to Sajith from the pod
Last week, opposition leader Mr. Sajith Premadasa received a special phone call from a strongman in Pohottuwa. After receiving the call, this powerful MP introduced himself to the leader of the opposition and took steps to inform the leader of the big grievance that he and his group had to face. There, this powerful Member of Parliament said that he has a group of 15 people with him, and all of them are very disappointed with the current political situation.
Leader of the Opposition, I have fifteen people with me. All of them are very disappointed. With the current political situation, we are not at all ready to join the alliances formed by those who broke away from us. This conversation was to find out if there is a place for us in your party…’ when asked by the powerful member of this village, Sajith said that a huge alliance will be formed in the future under his initiative, and together with this group of fifteen people, they can also carry out political activities.
After that, the MP from Pohottuwe asked Sajith if he decides to leave the ruling party and sit in the opposition will he be able to sit together with the Samagi Jana Balawega MPs. The opposition leader give a very practical answer to that too.
You can come and sit in the opposition at any time. A group of 13 people who have already represented Pohottuwa are sitting in the opposition as a separate independent group. They sit like that and do the political work of the opposition together with us. Therefore, sit in the opposition as a separate independent group. After that we can do political work together. However, I will appoint my special representative to coordinate with you in the future. Then you can talk to him and solve any problem…’ Sajith had informed the budding strongman there.
In an earlier instance, Dallas Alahapperuma, Charita Herath, G.L. Pieris and a group of 13 members including and Dylan Perera left Pohottu and sat in the opposition. Needless to say, if it happens like that, there will be a serious question about the government’s majority in the future.
The bud goes around the country
In this way, when a powerful MP from Pohottuwa try to join Sajith in a telephone conversation and mentions information about a change of side, Pohottuwa can be seen in the villages trying to rise again these days. In view of the severe setbacks that occurred after the ‘areagalaya’, Pohottuwa, who did not engage in any public work for several months, has decided to once again start their political activities at the village level and hold constituency council meetings. These days, besides the budding strongmen, Namal Rajapaksa, who is considered the crown prince of the Rajapaksa family, is playing a big role. Last week, the constituencies held in several provinces including Mahianganaya, Kurunegala, and so on, as a large number of Pohottu members participated than anyone expected. It was seen that this has become a great mental strength for the Pohottu strongmen.
Mahinda come out
In the past, we wrote the news that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was missing for several months on two occasions in the ‘inside politics ‘ column. There we said that the former president was resting at Wijerama House without attending any public event or family event for about three months. However, this disappearance was seen to have come to an end last week when Mahinda arranged to participate in a public event as usual.
Last week, a special event was organized at the Colombo Shangri-La Hotel to celebrate the anniversary of the Chinese Liberation Army, and Mahinda was seen as an invited guest. Although this is the first time to see Mahinda in public after some time, the week before that, Mahinda also attended a very private meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel. On that day, when Mahinda was in power, steps were taken to hold a banquet for about 20 very close officials who sat closely with Mahinda and engaged in political work.