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Differences aside, we must be ready for elections: Harin Fernando

10 Feb 2020

By Skandha Gunasekara The United National Party (UNP) has more or less resolved its inter-party issues and is now looking to work together to face the upcoming parliamentary elections, UNP MP Harin Fernando said. Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning: Is your group satisfied with the current turn of events where Ranil Wickremesinghe has retained the UNP leadership? We tried to ask for the leadership but unfortunately it was not a compromise. What we requested from the current Leader was to move on to being a patron or senior leader in the party and hand over functions to Sajith Premadasa. A majority of the party also voiced their opinions but none of us from the outset wanted to leave the party. Therefore, we also made a compromise from our side and they also made a compromise from their side to make Sajith the leader of the alliance and to give him all the responsibilities of the upcoming general elections with the nominations, addressing disciplinary issues, and even on appointing a general secretary to the alliance. How will such an arrangement work when it comes to decision making on matters related to the alliance and the UNP? The UNP is also a part of the alliance and Sajith heads the alliance. There’ll be a consensus. The majority stake is the UNP so the UNP will also be given a correct hearing and we never had a problem with that. What reasons were given for the removal of MP Ajith P. Perera and three others from the UNP’s Working Committee? Well, it was not told to us but we clearly said that until they are re-appointed, we will not be participating. Even Monday’s meeting, if they are not invited as well, then we too will not take part. In the earlier arrangement between the United National Front (UNF) alliance and the UNP, the UNP Leader had a majority vote in decision making. Would it continue this way? If so, do you foresee future disagreements between Premadasa and Wickremesinghe? I don’t think there’ll be a difference because we hardly have any time to decide on the election. After 28 February, it could be any moment, so we all should be ready to face an election. I think we have to keep our differences aside. But having said that, we’ll have to make sure that we deal with this properly. But do you foresee further disagreements between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa? I doubt it. I don’t think there’ll be anymore issues because if anyone is serious about the party and the betterment of the party, I doubt anyone would create more problems. We will go strong. As the General Secretary of the proposed alliance, MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara would be responsible for giving nominations at the upcoming elections. Can he refuse to give nominations to members of the UNP who would be seeking to contest under the UNF? I highly doubt that. I don’t think he is such a person. But technically, does he have the power to refuse to give nominations to UNPers? It’ll be headed by him but done by a committee. So I think there will be pros and cons that will be weighed and nominations would be given on that basis. Does MP Madduma Bandara’s appointment as the Alliance General Secretary need to be approved by the UNP Working Committee? Working Committee approval is needed to go ahead with the alliance and the undertaking – which is what could probably happen on Monday (10). We will also probably have a brainstorming session on Monday as to how to move forward and face elections. I’m quite confident that the matters are now laid to rest and we just have to make sure that we put forward the best team available to contest this general election. What role will Wickremesinghe play at future elections? I’d like to assume that he would play an advisory role and give the party’s younger cadre more responsibility to run the party under his watch. Let’s hope that that would be the outcome in the next few days and we can all be in one groove – which is what a majority of the UNPers want. We are a party that suffered from a breakaway. This situation is different, but we still have been able to speak to all parties concerned and reach a consensus. Many have alleged that Wickremesinghe and some of his supporters worked against Premadasa behind the scenes at the last presidential election campaign. Is there a fear that he could do so again? Not really because their future is at stake as well. Everybody must unite as a party to contest this election if they want to be re-elected. So I highly doubt that there would be any room and time to worry about such matters. Yet another attempt to change the UNP leadership has failed and Wickremesinghe remains. Isn’t there any way to remove him? We tried to remove him but our party Constitution is also something we need to deal with but that will be done later. Right now, we have to look at the 2020 general election to make sure the UNP stays afloat. We will look at the party Constitution afterwards. Sajith Premadasa and the alliance made a plea to Wickremesinghe to step down but since he is adamant and as a respectful party, we decided we wouldn’t do that anymore and instead do our best to sort it out. Amidst all these obstacles, why are you continuing to remain in the UNP without breaking away and forming a separate alliance or party? That was our last option but we didn’t reach that, so we are still confident that we might be able to sort this matter out. Which district will Premadasa contest in? It’s still not finalised but I assume that it will be Colombo.

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