Unlike during the tenures of Presidents Premadasa and Kumaratunga when every nitty-gritty detail about their families were highlighted in the media, certain sections of the media have so far adopted a policy of silence where incidents about the first family are concerned.

However, The Sunday Leader and its sister paper Irudina have continuously highlighted the internal squabbles of the Rajapakse family.

The most interesting news about the Rajapakse family to come out in recent times was that of the President’s decision on appointing a party organiser for the Beliatte electorate that fell vacant after his ascendancy to the presidency.

A heated battle erupted within the Rajapakse family with regard to the appointment to the electorate, given that Beliatte is considered the Rajapakse fiefdom.

The name of the first nominee for the electorate was that of the President’s brother, Basil Rajapakse. However, before long, another Rajapakse entered the fray; the President’s eldest son, Namal.

Meanwhile, Chamal Rajapakse decided to enter his son, Shasheendra, also into the race to secure the post of organiser for Beliatte.

While the battle for the electorate continued in this manner, the President was also asked by some others to appoint his other brother, Gotabaya Rajapakse to the post.

The battle intensified with all four fighting to secure the electorate.

This internal battle that lasted for months was finally settled by the President several weeks back.

In an unexpected move, the President summoned Nirupama Rajapakse and informed her of his decision to appoint son Namal as the organiser of the Beliatte electorate and asked her to officially assume the post of organiser for Beliatte till Namal was ready to take over.

Nirupama realised that the President was using her to resolve a conflict in the family and agreed to the President’s proposal and was appointed organiser of the Beliatte electorate. However, everyone knew that the appointment was an endorsement that Namal had already won the battle as he would at the most opportune time be appointed organiser of Beliatte.

The person who was most upset by the President’s move was none other than Basil, who is considered to be the brains behind the government.

Basil left for the US with his wife for a few weeks immediately after Namal’s appointment but returned to the island, as he began to miss the spoils of being in power.

Following his return to the island, Basil held several rounds of discussions with the President. During the discussions, the President requested Basil to accept the leadership of the Gampaha District.

When The Sunday Leader and sister paper Irudina revealed this news, we believe no one, even the general secretary of the SLFP was aware of this plan.

Several SLFP leaders as well as UNP defector Karu Jayasuriya, who is also looking at taking the leadership of the Gampaha District at some point said the story was false and that Basil would not be appointed as district leader of Gampaha as he would be nominated through the national list.

However, unknown to all, the President appointed Basil as the head of the SLFP in the Gampaha District’s coordinating committee. The appointment is usually made by the respective district leader of the party.

By appointing Basil, the President sent the message across to party men that Basil would from now on take charge of affairs related to the Gampaha District.

Former deputy leader of the UNP and Gampaha District leader, Jayasuriya was dealt a body blow through Basil’s new appointment.

Following this appointment, the President and Basil had another round of discussions on his appointment as an electoral organiser.

The President requested Basil to take over the Attanagalla electorate after casting aside Sarana Gunawardena and to teach a lesson to the Bandaranaikes by winning the electorate through a Rajapakse.

Being the political animal that he is, Basil rejected the request saying, "That won’t be easy. There about 7,000-8,000 votes for the Bandaranaikes in the Attanagalla electorate. If I go there, Chandrika will work against me. Then we might lose the electorate. It would be better to take charge of another electorate and work to win the Attanagalla electorate."

The President then proposed that Basil take charge of the Kelaniya electorate as there is a good SLFP base there.

Basil inquired as to what would happen to Mervyn Silva, who has been appointed as the organiser for Kelaniya.

"What elections for him? You have to get all your work done through him during an election and then tell he will be appointed through the national list and put him aside. That mad man does not have any votes," the President said.

Basil then came out with an idea. He asked if Silva could not be appointed to Attanagalla.

"That is a great idea. Let’s think about it," the President said.

Finally, Basil agreed to accept the Kelaniya electorate after some time.

It is in this manner that the President is attempting to resolve the conflict that erupted following the appointment of an organiser for Beliatte.

In his next move to resolve the conflict, Shasheendra, who was also running to win Beliatte, was last week unofficially appointed the electoral organiser of the Moneragala District.

The President who summoned Chamal and Shasheendra to Temple Trees informed them that Namal would enter through the Hambantota District while Basil would do so through the Gampaha District and asked Shasheendra to enter parliament through the Moneragala District.

The President had pledged at the meeting to officially appoint Shasheendra to the post when he dissolves the Uva Provincial Council along with several other provincial councils at the end of December.

With the President’s latest plan, the Rajapakses have spread their wings far and wide and are now planning to enter parliament not only from the Hambantota District, but from all over the island. 

MR takes a hit as Janaka, Mangala draw first blood

Next November 19 will mark the fourth anniversary since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed duties as executive president and leader of the SLFP.

Usually, the party represented by the state head does not lose any provincial or local election held for senior posts during his/her tenure in office. Such defeats have not been reported till now. However, President Rajapakse recorded his first defeat during his tenure last Thursday from the North Central Province.

From the outset, the President and Basil Rajapakse had every intention of appointing Minister S.M. Chandrasena’s brother as the chief minister of the north central provincial Council without appointing Berty Premalal Dissanayake to the post. However, Basil, who faced many disappointments with regard to this finally decided to move out of the election campaign.

In order to pacify him, the President told Basil that after the conclusion of the election, Basil would be given the freedom make appointments in the council as he pleased.

Therefore, Basil decided on how the appointments in the council are made and received presidential approval for it as well.

Basil first looked at the UPFA members who were appointed to the council and had affiliations to former President Chandrika Kumaratunge and Mangala Samaraweera and decided not to give any posts to them.

He wanted to appoint new faces to the posts in the council to strengthen them.

This decision heralded the beginning of a controversy. Many party seniors in the council were against this decision as they felt they were being sidelined. Finally, the President had to summon all the UPFA north central provincial councillors to Temple Trees and explain things to them.

The President saw the seniors who were agitating as those who were engaged in a coup. He told them that as he was the head of state, he had the right to decide on the people he wanted to be appointed to the posts in the council. "If any one decides to go beyond my decision, that would be their end," the President warned.

Several senior councillors then met with the President in private. However, the President’s tone did not change.

Finally, the senior councillors arrived at a decision. "No one can do politics by threatening us. We are the ones who have laboured for the party. Therefore, we have to teach a lesson for threatening us," they said.

When the north central provincial council met last Thursday, a chairman had to be appointed to the council. The President and Basil wanted to appoint one of their supporters, Gamage Weerasena to the post. The senior UPFA councillors decided to act against this move. They informed Kumaratunge and Samaraweera that they wanted to defeat the President’s candidate.

The opposition leader of the council, Janaka Perera also heard of this situation. He too informed Samaraweera of the situation concerning the UPFA councillors. Samaraweera began to have secret discussions with them.

Discussions also commenced between Samaraweera, Perera and SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem. The most decisive discussion was held last Wednesday, the day before the council met.

It was decided to nominate a candidate that would pose a threat to the one nominated by the President. The decision was for the UNP to propose the name of senior UPFA councillor and former minister of the North Central Provincial Council, P.B. Dissanayake to the post of Chairman when Weerasena’s name is proposed.

On Thursday, the UNP and UPFA councillors were present in the council.

As previously agreed upon by the two parties, when Weerasena’s name was proposed to the post of Chairman by the UPFA, the UNP proposed Dissanayake’s name.

Finally a vote had to be called to choose between the two UPFA candidates.

From the election, UNP’s nominee, Dissanayake won the election by three votes. Six UPFA councillor had voted with the UNP’s nominee.

The UPFA councillors voted with the UNP’s nominee solely to defeat the President’s candidate. Even Samaraweera intervened in order to teach a lesson to the President.

"I cannot do anything against Berty, Pavithra and Maithripala,"

Samaraweera told Oppostion Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe then said it was an act not to defeat Berty, but to defeat the President.

And so it was to be.

Ranil courts the black coats

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe went to the Colombo District Court last Thursday following a court order.

The case filed against the agreement signed between him and Convener, SLFP (M) Wing, Mangala Samaraweera was taken up that day. The case was filed by former UNP MP Anura Bastian.

Wickremesinghe was summoned to court over a contempt of court charge against a statement made in an affidavit presented by him.

With Wickremesinghe entering the court, the court complex was filled with UNP politicians and supporters. Amongst the politicians present were Johnston Fernando, Thalatha Atukorale and Jayalath Jayawardena.

Everyone was surprised and also happy to see the trio, as they have been identified as those agitating for Wickremesinghe’s removal from the party leadership.

The other member of the group, Lakshman Seneviratne was not present on the occasion as he was overseas at the time.

After the case was over, Wickremesinghe along with the other parliamentarians and members went into the court canteen and began a conversation with the lawyers there.

Meanwhile, the same evening a meeting of the committee of party seniors was held at Cambridge Terrace under Wickremesinghe’s leadership.

Wickremesinghe said at the meeting that the reform proposals have to be implemented immediately. He firmly stated that the reforms approved by the party’s working committee have to be implemented without any delay.