{"id":36438,"date":"2014-12-21T18:41:50","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T23:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36438"},"modified":"2014-12-21T19:01:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-22T00:01:37","slug":"increasing-pressure-on-muslim-congress-by-leading-businessmen-for-party-to-remain-with-the-mahinda-rajapaksa-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36438","title":{"rendered":"Increasing Pressure on Muslim Congress by Leading Businessmen for Party to remain with the Mahinda Rajapaksa Govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are increasing signs that the SLMC will eventually end up supporting the UPFA Government. Hakeem told a meeting of his parliamentarians recently that if he were to take a decision, all of them should follow suit. Some of the MPs spoke openly about their intention to remain with the Government when they attended a dinner on Thursday to mark the Qatar National Day at the Colombo Hilton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SLMC<\/a><\/p>\n

One SLMC parliamentarian told a foreign guest at the dinner, \u201cEven leading businessmen are asking us to remain. We do not want to damage the interests of the Muslim community by quitting.\u201d Some businessmen who need the support of the Government to carry out their business do not want to see the exit of the SLMC from the UPFA Government.<\/p>\n

However, that is not to say that the Congress is in the habit of consulting businessmen before deciding on issues affecting the Muslims whom they claim to represent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To the contrary, the party breathed fire and thunder after the attacks on Muslims in Alutgama, Dharga Town and Beruwala in June this year. It lobbied many a West Asian country to protest to the Government. <\/p>\n

The SLMC\u2019s acute embarrassment is now telling. Much like the businessmen who do not want it to leave, there are also those in the Congress who are in big business. They do not want to leave either. Thus, any move by the SLMC to quit would split the party in two. <\/p>\n

That is the dilemma for their leader, Hakeem. If he keeps his rank and file intact by supporting the UPFA, he faces the prospect of a defeat at a future parliamentary election. On the other hand, choosing to quit will mean some of his members will stay behind. <\/p>\n

That the Muslim electorate is not happy with the SLMC\u2019s role became clearer at the Uva Provincial Council elections where the party together with the ACPC polled only 5,045 votes. This was of a total of 40,000 registered Muslim voters in Uva. The beneficiary was the United National Party (UNP).<\/p>\n

The departure of the SLMC altogether, if it does happen, will deprive the Government of eight MPs thus losing its two-thirds majority. On the other hand, in the unlikely event of the SLMC choosing to leave UPFA, there is a strong likelihood of the party being split. At least two of SLMC parliamentarians want to remain. <\/p>\n

The fact that the SLMC would choose to either remain with the Government or move out would not on its own generate the overwhelming support of Muslim voters. As the results of the Uva PC polls revealed, the party\u2019s support base has eroded.<\/p>\n

Moreover, during recent talks with UPFA leaders, an SLMC delegation led by Hakeem has already won a string of concessions. <\/p>\n

The Government has agreed to the SLMC\u2019s request to shift an Army camp in Pottuvil and offered to expedite payment of compensation for lands belonging to Muslims and taken over during the construction of the Oluvil Harbour. <\/p>\n

A contentious issue has been the carving out of a separate Divisional Secretary\u2019s Division comprising Pottuvil, Kalmunai and Sammanthurai areas. Instead of this, the Government has said it has already appointed an Additional Government Agent or Additional Divisional Secretary at the Secretariat in Batticaloa.<\/p>\n

Talks are continuing.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are increasing signs that the SLMC will eventually end up supporting the UPFA Government. Hakeem told a meeting of his parliamentarians recently that if he were to take a decision, all of them should follow suit. Some of the MPs spoke openly about their intention to remain with the Government when they attended a …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Increasing Pressure on Muslim Congress by Leading Businessmen for Party to remain with the Mahinda Rajapaksa Govt’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36438"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36447,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438\/revisions\/36447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}