The Island Editorial

Talk about a new party

10 October 2016

 

One does not have to be an astrologer to say when malefic planetary combinations bother ruling party politicians. When the supposedly bad planets trouble them they go overseas and return when bad spells are over––of course, at the taxpayers’ expense.

As if the astrological problems troubling government leaders were not enough, the Joint Opposition (JO) has stepped up its offensives on the political front. The JO leaders have apparently decided that attack is the best form of defence. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared, in Ratnapura on Saturday, that defections from the government ranks were possible and he would not resort to conspiracies unlike his rivals and everything would be done openly. Whether he is equal to that task remains to be seen but his claim is likely to have an unsettling effect on his political enemies. In this country anything is possible; there have been instances where even the general secretaries of both the SLFP and the UNP decamped. They are S. B. Dissanayake (SLFP), Maithripala Sirisena (SLFP) and Tissa Attanayake (UNP).

Rajapaksa keeps on hinting that the SLFP rebels will form a new political party. The current SLFP leadership has sought to pooh-pooh his warning as mere rhetoric, insisting that such a move will never reach fruition. Critics of the JO claim the new party to be formed will face the same fate as the UNP offshoot, the Democratic United National Front (DUNF), which came into being following an abortive attempt by a group of prominent UNPers led by Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and G. M. Premachandra to impeach President Ranasinghe Premadasa. The DUNF failed because both Lalith and Premadasa were assassinated in quick succession and Gamini returned to the UNP’s fold. Today, the situation is different.

President Sirisena, in a bid to consolidate his power in the SLFP, is removing capable, popular party organisers and replacing them with his loyalists. The ongoing purge has weakened the party beyond measure. Political rejects have been appointed to Parliament and made ministers and organisers. It looks as though failures had become the pillars of the SLFP. Most of all, corruption and abuse of power are rampant and political brats, notorious for Rake’s progress, go berserk at night clubs. The anti-Sirisena faction of the SLFP is making the most of this situation and is flexing its muscles in the form of protests and rallies.

The only way President Sirisena can neutralise the Rajapaksa factor, which the be-all and end-all of the JO is to steer the SLFP to victory at the next local government elections. But, this is a tall order given the debilitation of the party which will have to face the polls without the backing of the Rajapaksa faction. Should Sirisena fail in his endeavour his position in the party would be further undermined. If his rivals succeed in wresting control of the party, that will be the end of the ‘unity’ government. For, the SLFP Central Committee will be able to pull the plug on the coalition government. This is a worrisome proposition for the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government and, therefore, all signs are that local government polls will be postponed indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem the JO, struggling to transform itself into a political force capable of vying with both the SLFP and the UNP for power, is faced with is not repressive action the government is resorting to in a bid to safeguard its interests; instead it will be the public antipathy towards the presence of some rogues in the JO; they were responsible for the UPFA’s electoral defeats. The task of repackaging, rebranding and remarketing these unsavoury elements is well nigh impossible because of their bad reputation which stinks to high heaven. The question is whether with such elements within its ranks the JO needs enemies.