By Dharisha Bastians

As the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its leading constituent party, the SLFP, made conflicting claims regarding nominations for ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the alliance list, President Maithripala Sirisena’s public silence on the controversial issue continued to baffle loyalists and supporters of his presidential bid in January.

With nominations scheduled to close at 12 noon next Monday (13), the UPFA is racing against the clock to finalise its candidate lists and iron out differences between its Rajapaksa and Sirisena factions ahead of the deadline.

Reports emerged on Tuesday that President Sirisena had imposed strict conditions on Rajapaksa’s candidacy, including that the former President would have to contest in his home district of Hambantota and nowhere else and that he would not be permitted to lead the UPFA campaign.

But Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva dropped a bombshell in Welimada yesterday, when he told a meeting in Uva-Paranagama that the former President would be signing nomination papers tomorrow (10).
“We asked President Rajapaksa which district he wanted, he is going to contest from Kurunegala, that is certain,” De Silva told the meeting.

Kurunegala is Sri Lanka’s third largest electoral district and would give the former President a greater claim to premiership than if he were to contest in Hambantota with its much smaller population.

Rajapaksa is also keen to allow his son Namal Rajapaksa to contest without competition in Hambantota and top the list in his home district.

However, UPFA Nomination Board member Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said there was no final decision yet about which district the former President would be allocated to contest.

The party’s nomination list was not yet finalised, even though the interview processes were complete, Amaraweera told BBC Sandeshaya yesterday.

A flurry of high level meetings was scheduled for Wednesday night with President Sirisena, as the alliance struggles to reach consensus on its candidate list.

President Sirisena was scheduled to meet with former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Ports Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, Lands Minister M.K.D.S. Gunewardane, Duminda Dissanayake and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne last night for final discussions on the controversial issue of nominations for Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This faction includes MPs and ministers in the former Rajapaksa regime that quit with Sirisena when he decided to contest the presidency in November last year.

There had been several rounds of talks with the President on this issue, members of the group claimed, but they had all ended inconclusively. The meetings had been ad hoc and rushed, one member of the group claimed. It was the Wednesday night meeting that was going to be key to a final decision on the issue.

Meanwhile, President Sirisena was also scheduled to meet with civil society leaders who supported his presidential bid in January, including Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, the architect of the common candidacy movement. Trade union leader Saman Ratnapriya, Convenor of the Purawesi Balaya Dr. Gamini Viyangoda and Ravaya Editor K.W. Janaranjana were to participate in this meeting at 8.30 p.m. last night.

President Sirisena’s former allies are rallying against his decision to create the space for a return of the Rajapaksa regime through the parliament. President Sirisena’s agreement to grant the nomination to the former President is being called the great betrayal of the people’s mandate he had been given on 8 January.

Mahinda visits Opposition Leader’s Office

In an apparent sign that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was back in the mainstream of SLFP/UPFA politics, he stepped into the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo yesterday for consultations.

Spokesman for the former President Rohan Welivita told Daily FT that Rajapaksa had stepped into the offices of Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva for consultations with officials there about nominations and media plans.

“Everybody is in one team now – the former President, President Maithripala Sirisena and Nimal Siripala De Silva, so it is natural he should go to those offices,” Welivita said.

The former President paid the visit at around noon yesterday, Welivita said.

Rajapaksa faction irked by attempt to strike Prasanna Ranatunga off Gampaha list

Fresh tensions erupted between the pro-Sirisena and pro-Rajapaksa factions of the SLFP after a decision was made to strike Prasanna Ranatunga off the Gampaha District nomination list, Daily FT learns.

Prasanna Ranatunga, Western Province Chief Minister and staunch Rajapaksa ally, has been at the forefront of the struggle within the SLFP to bring the ex-President back into active politics. He has also organised several rallies openly calling for Rajapaksa to be elected as Prime Minister, despite President Sirisena’s explicit statement that the former President would not be nominated as PM candidate of the SLFP or the UPFA.

The move to deny him nominations to contest in the parliamentary election has angered the Rajapaksa camp, Daily FT learns. Several key allies of the former President are once again trying to push him to field a new alliance and contest separately, highly placed sources said.

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has overseen the Gampaha District SLFP list, has recommended striking off the Chief Minister, since giving him a nomination would mean three Ranatunga brothers would contest in the district at the poll.

SLFP MP Ruwan Ranatunga will have to be granted nominations because he was the sitting MP for the party in the district, while former cricket skipper Arjuna Ranatunga will also receive nominations since he is a cabinet minister and a strong Sirisena loyalist.

Kumaratunga has strongly argued that three members of the same family cannot contest in the Gampaha District, Daily FT learns.

She has also recommended striking several other loyalists of President Rajapaksa off the SLFP Gampaha list, including Provincial Councillor Samanmalee Sakalasooriya and Meryl Perera.

The ex-President is pushing hard to have all of his loyalists included in the UPFA list, Daily FT learns, even though many of them are being prosecuted for corruption.

UPFA leaders are locked in negotiations again to try and get consensus on the latest point of contention.

No conditions placed on Rajapaksa’s candidacy: SLFP

SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa yesterday denied reports that President Maithripala Sirisena had laid strict conditions on Mahinda Rajapaksa’s candidacy at the 17 August election.

Addressing a press briefing at the SLFP headquarters yesterday, Yapa said that Rajapaksa would definitely be contesting on the UPFA ticket.

The General Secretary rejected media reports that controversy was clouding Rajapaksa’s nomination from the UPFA.

Nimal Siripala talks of sacrifice and Uva’s loss

Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva yesterday claimed to have made a sacrifice of the premiership himself to bring about party unity.
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As Opposition Leader, De Silva would be the natural choice for premier in the event the UPFA wins the 17 August election

“If I also said I want the future Prime Minister candidacy what would happen? Instead I sacrificed that opportunity and Uva lost the chance to have one of its politicians take that position. But I said I want party unity and that is my only goal. We cannot split the party and allow the UNP to claim an easy victory,” the Opposition Leader told the meeting.

Courtesy:Daily FT