The United National Front (UNF) is discussing the possibility of forming a national government by getting a motion to the effect passed in Parliament with a simple majority. The motion, if agreed to by stakeholders of the UNF, is likely to be presented to the House before the presentation of the 2019 Budget this March. The UNF Government last week sent out signals of its desire to once again form a national government. The UNF stated that it is willing to form a national government with all political forces that accept its policies. The decision to move for a national government was reached during a discussion of UNF party leaders headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last week. It was the Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Minister Rauf Hakeem who publicly announced the UNF’s desire to accept the support of any political party or groups that are supportive of the policy decisions of the Government, especially to ease the country’s debt burden while providing welfare measures to the masses. Meanwhile, Leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) Minister Mano Ganesan said that the UNF Government is prepared to submit the proposal seeking the formation of a national unity government to Parliament. He expressed confidence that the proposal could be passed in the House with a simple majority. The Black Box learnt that the UNF Government was looking at getting the support of members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in Parliament, to get its 2019 Budget passed with a clear majority in the House. While finalising the formation of the broad political front – the Democratic National Front (DNF) – to contest the next national level elections, the UNF reached a unanimous decision of firmly securing the support of members outside it who are supportive of the Government’s agenda. There are already several SLFP MPs in the UNF Government – Wijithamuni Soyza, A.H.M. Fowzie, Piyasena Gamage, Indika Bandaranayake, Lakshman Seneviratne, and Manusha Nanayakkara. However, they have not been assigned any portfolios in the government due to objections raised by the President in his capacity as SLFP leader and the legal blockade to exceed the number of ministers from the stipulated 30 Cabinet ministers. Be that as it may, the UNF is now building the argument that the UNF, which already has several political parties, along with the SLMC, is a national government and therefore, should be in a position to be recognised as one. Once a national government is recognised by Parliament, the number of cabinet portfolios will be increased to 40 accommodating members supportive of the Government and are currently outside the frame. Following parliamentary approval to the motion on a national government currently under consideration, the Government is to explore the legality of the President’s ability to object/prevent the appointment of a cabinet minister proposed by the Prime Minister. The Government would then have the required 113 MPs in the House to form the majority without the support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The latest moves by the UNF Government indicates a series of new stand offs between the President and the Government. Sirisena meanwhile, left on a foreign tour to Singapore flanked by SLFP MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara, who is also the party’s General Secretary and S.B. Dissanayake. It seems like the President is now making a habit of giving a cold shoulder to members of the Government on his official tours while opting to take MPs from the Opposition benches to accompany him on his overseas visits. The President was accompanied by many Opposition UPFA MPs during his recent official visit to the Philippines. However, it is learnt that the presidential aides have unofficially communicated to the Government that the President’s Singapore tour was not an official one. Nevertheless, it is customary to get at least a few members of the Government included in the President’s entourage in the event he attends any official functions during the respective visit. The current conduct of the President would undoubtedly create a clash with the UNF Government sooner rather than later, adding to the list of contentious issues that are now building between the two parties. MS’ headache Meanwhile, Sirisena’s headaches seemed far from over last week with the diehard SLFPers, who continue to agitate for the strengthening of the party without forming any alliance with the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramina (SLPP), organising themselves as a political force to bring pressure on the party membership. A group of SLFP organisers launched the campaign last November as a movement to safeguard the SLFP, its identity, principles and strengthen the party; the forum has been gathering momentum since then. With nearly 30 party organisers including party members in the local government bodies and former provincial members, the movement is further strengthened by the group of 18 SLFP MPs in Parliament, led by the likes of Nimal Siripala de Silva, Duminda Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, etc. However, SLFP stalwart, Kaduwela Mayor G.H. Buddhadasa and a group of SLFPers last week went public with their campaign by declaring open a National Centre for Citizens in Rajagiriya. The main aim of organising such a centre was to provide a venue for all disgruntled SLFPers as well as well wishers to join, meet, and discuss the way forward in strengthening the SLFP. An invitation was extended to likeminded political parties as well as trade unionists to join the centre to establish a formidable force to stand against the SLPP and face elections. However, the movement to safeguard the SLFP, which had the blessings of former President and SLFP Patron as well as organiser Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, is in the process of discussing the formulation of a programme on which to base their political path. At present, members of the group are discussing two options: 1. The formation of a separate political party by the group that would follow the true Bandaranaike policies; 2. To strengthen the movement further and struggle within the SLFP to ensure the party does not sway from its intended path. Be that as it may, the common ground that all the members of the group stand for is that they would not in any way stand by and support the re-emergence of a Rajapaksa – be it Mahinda or any other family member. “We want President Sirisena to be the candidate and we want him to understand what we are saying, but it doesn’t seem like he cares to listen what we have to say,” one of the SLFP organisers in the movement told the Black Box. Meanwhile, the group is now calling on the SLFP seniors who have provided leadership to the movement from behind the scenes to come forward and take a visible leadership role to move forward. Nevertheless, the SLFP organisers and MPs currently agitating for the party to remain independent and strengthen itself will undoubtedly play a decisive role in a few months time when political parties as well as alliances in the making are called to decide on their candidates for the next presidential election. Therefore, come March, the SLFP is likely to face a make or break situation with the fate of the party clearly lying solely in the hands of President Sirisena. SLFP reforms In line with the SLFP’s reforms agenda, Party Leader Sirisena appointed 19 new district leaders of the SLFP before he left the country on a tour of Singapore. A large number of vacancies existed in the list of district leaders after most of them aligned themselves with the Rajapaksa-led SLPP. Apart from party seniors MPs Nimal Siripala de Silva and Duminda Dissanayake, the rest of the 17 appointees were new comers to the SLFP district leaders’ list. The SLFP’s Galle District leadership was assigned to Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijelal after MP Piyasena Gamage joined the UNF Government. The rest of the appointments were replacements to SLFP MPs who are now in the SLPP. It is in this backdrop that a group of senior SLFP organisers decided to openly take a different path to that of President Sirisena by stating that they stood for the preservation of the SLFP under the principles of its founder, the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. Meanwhile, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Parliamentary Group met at the parliamentary complex last Tuesday under the leadership of Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the discussion on the proposed amendments to the Commission for the Investigation of Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) Act, MP Namal Rajapaksa opined that it was being done to target Opposition MPs. However, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara disagreed. He noted that there was nothing wrong in the amendments if the bond scammers of the Central Bank could be apprehended. UNP gets cracking On the other side of the divide, the UNP Working Committee met at Sirikotha last Thursday (24) evening. The discussion at the meeting was focused mainly on the party’s preparedness to face elections. A majority of the party members were concerned by the failure of UNF Government’s development work reaching the masses and the role the state media could play in this regard. After discussing how to overcome the issue, the Working Committee decided that urgent steps needed to be taken to strengthen the party before the next presidential election. The responsibility of forming a programme to strengthen the party to face the next presidential election was assigned to Party Chairman Minister Kabir Hashim. Accordingly, Hashim was asked to prepare the programme and present it to the Working Committee for approval after discussions with the politburo. One of the key features of last week’s Working Committee meeting was several new appointments made to the party’s officer bearers. State Minister Ruwan Wijewardena was appointed as the UNP’s new Deputy General Secretary and Minister Sagala Ratnayake was appointed as the party’s International Affairs Secretary. Both appointments were unanimous decisions of the UNP Working Committee.