The future political actions of Sri Lanka’s main opposition, the United National Party has become the main topic of many a discussions within the party, following the recent provincial elections.
It is said that the thumping victory achieved by Dayasiri Jayasekara, the former UNP MP who crossed over to the UPFA to contest for the North Western Provincial Council, has shifted the UNP top brass’ attention more towards provincial polls.
Therefore as several controversial issues currently plague the party, certain groups have recommended that necessary action be taken to resolve these matters.
Sources within the UNP say that a group of senior party members are preparing to bring forth a proposal to the Working Committee, naming MPs Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and Harin Fernando as possible Chief Ministerial candidates for the Western, Southern and Uva provinces respectively, at a future election.
The proposal is expected to be submitted at the next Working Committee meeting, which is scheduled to be held at party headquarters - Sirikotha on October 07, or discussed at a later date if the time period is not sufficient for adequate preparations.
UNP leadership believes that this would provide Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya with an opportunity to display their strengths, as they have repeatedly expressed views on working at grassroot level to empower the party and the trust party supporters in the ground level have towards them.
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe could also be thinking on the lines of killing two birds with one stone because the move will not only provide a momentary happiness to those who oppose his leadership but will also leave Karu and Sajith politically destitute if they lose as they have to resign from Parliament in order to contest Provincial polls. This would allow him to provide an opportunity to those next in line to fill the vacated seats.
However, such a move cannot be executed by one person or a handful from within the party specially due to the fact that it is hard to predict Sajith Premadasa and Karu Jayasuriya would actually agree to this dangerous proposal.
Even so, UNP Member of Parliament Ajith P. Perera, during a recent interview on TV Derana, had stated that the party is expected to undergo a reorganizing process in the near future and that discussions pertaining to that are already underway.
He stated that building up the UNP by handing over responsibilities to intelligent, efficient youth within the party is being proposed.
Political critics believe that former UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya returning to the Working Committee, after being subject to the party leader’s retaliation for a long period and being stripped of Working Committee membership, could be the first sign of the implementation of this proposed plan.
