• MR to lead new alliance election campaign; Basil tipped to be alliance secretary
• RW wrests control of Working Committee; sends note outlining Sajith’s role in alliance

Despite the battle for party leadership of the United National Party (UNP) between Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa seemingly reaching a middle ground, the cold war to wrest operational control of the party’s electoral apparatus at the upcoming general election seems very much alive. While the cold war between the Wickremesinghe and Premadasa factions continues, a new battle has now come to the forefront – the naming of a general secretary of the UNP-led alliance that would contest the upcoming general election. Although initial reports of a consensus reached between the two factions stated that the post of general secretary of the alliance would be vested with an individual of Premadasa’s choosing, some supporters of the Wickremesinghe faction have raised objections to it. The tug-o-war is now back on over the post of general secretary of the proposed UNP-led political alliance. Premadasa, being well aware that he is being further dragged into a mess that would consume more time and result in a delay in getting the election campaign work off the ground, has decided to remain silent for the time being. It is evident that the Wickremesinghe faction after last week’s Working Committee (WC) meeting is looking at the Premadasa faction, waiting for them to serve that ball back to Wickremesinghe’s court. The Premadasa faction it seems is trying to gear for the worst knowing that it is never an easy battle to win against Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe, in his long political career, has faced many challenges and many political doosras, but has managed to remain stoic in his position as the Leader of the UNP. Once again, it seems Premadasa is being poised to be the fall guy at the upcoming general election. Given the delay in getting its act together and the massive friction between two main factions of the UNP, the party’s campaign at the elections would undoubtedly be a heated race mostly between party candidates themselves. The one-on-one Last Sunday (26 January), a meeting of UNP local government and provincial council members was convened at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) under Premadasa’s patronage to discuss the proposed UNP-led electoral alliance. The welcome address was delivered by MP Ravindra Samaraweera and the aim of the meeting was explained by MP Harin Fernando. MPs Mano Ganesan, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, and Patali Champika Ranawaka were among the party leaders of the United National Front (UNF) who attended the meeting at SLECC. After everyone had delivered their speeches, Premadasa had addressed the gathering. After thanking everyone for their support at the last presidential election, Premadasa had informed the UNPers that the party will be contesting as an alliance at the upcoming general election. Following the meeting at SLECC, the UNP membership seemed to be quite satisfied with the feeling that the discussions between Premadasa, MPs Malik Samarawickrama and Kabir Hashim, as well as Wickremesinghe were heading in a positive direction. During these discussions, all parties had agreed to the nomination of Premadasa as the leader of the proposed alliance while Wickremesinghe remained as the Party Leader. Proposals made by the Premadasa group that the post of general secretary of the alliance should be decided by Premadasa and that nomination lists should be prepared by a nominations board were accepted by Wickremesinghe. Elated by the success of the discussions, members of the Premadasa faction had kept congregating at the Opposition Leader’s Office to seek more information. It is in this backdrop that a one-on-one meeting took place between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa on Wednesday (29 January) at the official residence of the Speaker. The meeting was mooted by former Party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, with the intension of getting the UNP on a new path towards political victory. During the meeting, Wickremesinghe had expressed the need for the nomination of candidates for the upcoming general election to be carried out by the UNP. Several other unclear areas had been taken up for discussion at this one-on-one meeting and the discussion had ended in failure with Premadasa unclear of whether he and Wickremesinghe had reached a consensus on how to resolve the party crisis or not. “Once again, the issue has been cast aside by a new kind of game. There’s no point in going for more discussions. Let’s form the alliance and continue with our work,” a disgruntled Premadasa had told Attanayake at the Opposition Leader’s Office after Wickremesinghe’s meeting. The stage for the following day’s WC meeting was set with the failure of this one-on-one meeting between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa as well as the non-inclusion of four members of the Premadasa faction in the newly reconstituted UNP WC. New Working Committee The new WC is somewhat a “last laugh” by Wickremesinghe, who reaffirmed his position of power in the party. He also refrained from reappointing some key figures such as MPs Sarath Fonseka, Ajith P. Perera, and Rosy Senanayake as well as former MP Imitiaz Bakeer Markar to the WC. In the annual reconstitution of the WC for 2020, the UNP reappointed only 59 members. The outgoing WC had 68 members. The WC membership can be increased to up to 91 and the party leader has the authority to nominate 20 members. After the reconstitution of the WC for this year, it met on Thursday (30 January) with Wickremesinghe in the chair. However, 14 members including Opposition Leader Premadasa did not turn up in protest over the exclusion of members such as Perera, Fonseka, Bakeer Markar, and Colombo Mayoress Senanayake. Bakeer Markar had been nominated last time to fill the slots reserved for the former parliamentarians of the party and the former parliamentarians’ wing had been called to decide whether to nominate him for re-appointment or not. While 37 members of the new WC had attended the meeting, six others had excused themselves in advance. The main topic on the agenda was the continuation of the party leadership by Wickremesinghe. It was Wickremesinghe who had then proposed that Premadasa be appointed as the leader of the proposed UNP-led alliance for the next general election. The rest of the members at the meeting had unanimously approved the proposal, although Premadasa was absent at the meeting. Also, the party had then nominated Premadasa as its prime ministerial candidate at the upcoming general election. When one of the WC members had questioned as to what the party would do if Premadasa were to turn down the nomination as the alliance leader and the UNP’s prime ministerial candidacy at the upcoming general election, Wickremesinghe had responded by saying that Premadasa would be given one week to make a final decision and if he failed to do so, the WC would on Thursday (6) make alternative plans. MP Mangala Samaraweera, who agitated for Premadasa’s presidential candidacy, had then addressed the WC and said that it was he who had proposed Premadasa’s name as the UNP’s presidential candidate, but in order to maintain balance within the party, Wickremesinghe would have to be at the leadership. Meanwhile, MP John Amaratunga had said that there was no need to give nominations to individuals who were not present at decisive meetings since there were many more deserving people. “We will give them chances to contest. The party should appoint the nomination board to interview them,” he said. MP Ravi Karunanayake had questioned as to why the party should give nominations and positions to an individual who had contested as the party’s presidential candidate and failed. However, MP Lakshman Kiriella had responded saying that Premadasa had to be given the positions proposed by Wickremesinghe. “@sajithpremadasa will lead broad alliance including @officialunp. He will have full control with appointment of own Gen Sec. He will also head nominations board. Electing UNP leader now less relevant. Will do so anyway in due course, but for now focus on April poll; 113+, (sic)” MP Dr. Harsha De Silva tweeted soon after the conclusion of the WC meeting. Secret letter Be that as it may, Wickremesinghe decided to send a personal communiqué to Premadasa informing the latter of the powers that will be vested with him. Interestingly, Wickremesinghe had made it a brief note with just five points sans any details on how the alliance would work and the powers that will be vested with Premadasa. Following are the five points sent by Wickremesinghe to Premadasa:

1. Premadasa to lead the proposed alliance and to represent the UNP. Premadasa and the other UNP representatives to have a majority on the decision-making bodies.
2. Premadasa and the other party representatives to talk with the others regarding the alliance and report back to the WC.
3. The general secretary of the proposed alliance to be a member of the UNP and will also require approval/concurrence of the WC.
4. The nomination board to consist of Premadasa and other office bearers. Concurrence of the leader to be obtained for the final list. Leaders of other parties can be opted by the nominations board.
5. Wickremesinghe and Premadasa to discuss the appointment of new organisers before a decision is taken by the advisory committee.

As for the third point, the appointment of the general secretary of the proposed alliance would definitely be a bone of contention to the Premadasa faction. It is evident that Wickremesinghe has purposely included the fact that the general secretary of the proposed alliance be assigned to an individual with the approval/concurrence of the WC in order to ensure that a nominee from the Premadasa faction would be voted down at the WC that is controlled by the UNP leadership. Also, Wickremesinghe pointing out that the post of general secretary should be assigned to a member of the UNP, effectively nullifying any plan Premadasa would have had to appoint UNF MP Patali Champika Ranawaka as the general secretary of the proposed alliance. Premadasa made a public statement recently that he would ensure a strong position for Ranawaka under his leadership. Agreement? Despite being given one week to make a final decision on the UNP WC proposal to nominate him as the leader of the proposed UNP-led electoral alliance as well as becoming the party’s prime ministerial candidate, one of Premadasa’s vocal supporters, MP Nalin Bandara, said on Friday (31 January) that Premadasa accepted the proposal by the WC. Bandara had told the media that the decisions reached by the UNP WC were positive when compared to the stand taken by the UNP earlier. He had noted that, as per the UNP Constitution, the party leadership post cannot be changed unless the current party leader steps down. According to Bandara, since Wickremesinghe was refusing to step down, Premadasa would not push for that right now as he is to lead the new alliance which will include the UNP. “The UNP has decided it will be part of the alliance led by Premadasa. We accept that,” Bandara had said. Premadasa has however remained silent and refrained from making any public comments. In fact, when he was posed a question at a news conference convened by him at the parliamentary complex last Friday to discuss the impact of coronavirus, Premadasa had refrained from commenting, saying he would make a statement about his political future shortly. The Black Box reliably learnt that Premadasa is facing a conundrum since the five-point note sent by Wickremesinghe did not detail the exact mandate Premadasa would be assigned as alliance leader and the party’s prime ministerial candidate. It seems Premadasa is hesitant to accept Wickremesinghe’s note at face value knowing that the latter is a maestro when it comes to playing tricks. While there’s ambiguity in Premadasa’s role as alliance leader, Wickremesinghe, after sending the five-point note, seems to be keeping silent with the attitude that the ball is now well and truly in Premadasa’s court. Nevertheless, Premadasa has till this Thursday (6) to officially inform the party of his decision. A new alliance Apart from the UNP issues that seem to be taking most of the space in the country’s political discussions, the formation of a new political alliance is reaching its final stages. The formation of the Sri Lanka Freedom People’s Alliance (SLFPA) is to be officially announced to the Election Commission (EC) next week. Accordingly, the EC is to be informed that the People’s Alliance (PA) has been reconstituted as the SLFPA. The reconstitution of the PA is being carried out following an agreement reached between the executive committees of the PA and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The executive committee of the PA had met last Thursday (30 January) under the patronage of former President and SLFP Leader Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as PA Leader, at the SLFP headquarters on Darley Road in Colombo. Executive committee members of the PA included representatives of the Communist Party (CP) led by D.E.W. Gunasekera and Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) led by Prof. Tissa Vitarana. MP Nimal Siripala de Silva had represented the SLFP. Acting General Secretary of the PA Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna had first explained to the committee how the amendments would be made to the existing Constitution. De Silva had then explained in detail the amendments that needed to be made in order to incorporate the agreement reached between the SLFP and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the run up to the last presidential election. “We have formulated the amended constitution. According to that, the SLPP will have 51% representation in the proposed alliance’s executive council while we, the SLFP, will have 31% of the representation. The rest will be distributed among the constituent parties,” De Silva had said. He had further noted that the proposed SLFPA would have two co-leaders and the posts of general secretary and treasurer would be assigned to the SLPP while the SLFP would be assigned the posts of deputy general secretary and national organiser. The posts of vice leader and vice secretary would be assigned to constituent party members of the SLFPA. Sirisena had once again reiterated that it was easier to make changes to an existing registered political body rather than registering a whole new entity. Accordingly, the executive committee of the PA had decided to approve the amendments to its Constitution and permit the change of its name and make an official communication of the fact to the EC. The executive committee of the PA had decided to rename the party as the “Sri Lanka Freedom People’s Alliance” and to amend the party Constitution accordingly. SLFP sources however have said that the EC will not be informed of any change in the electoral symbol as the PA’s symbol, the “chair,” will also be taken as the symbol of the new alliance. Also, a new executive committee is to be appointed after the new changes are officially communicated to the EC. Interestingly, while the proposed alliance would have two co-leaders – SLPP Leader Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and SLFP Leader Sirisena – the SLFPA election campaign will be spearheaded by Premier Rajapaksa. Sirisena, it seems, is back to his old self where he would play the supporting role during the election campaign – a sight that was all too familiar during the 2005-2015 period. Symbol unresolved Be that as it may, the proposed SLFPA will face its first make or break hurdle on the issue of the alliance symbol. Despite claims by the SLFP that there is no need to change the PA’s symbol of the “chair,” SLPP loyalists continue to agitate that the electoral symbol of the SLFPA should be the “flower bud,” which is the symbol of the SLPP. However, a final decision on the symbol is expected to be resolved with the return of former minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the architect of the SLPP and who also played a key role in forming an alliance between the SLFP and SLPP. Many SLPP loyalists believe that Basil’s delay in returning to the country following a private visit to the US has caused the delay in finalising the formation of the SLFPA. However, informed sources say that Basil is expected to return to the country within the next few days. It is learnt that several state ministers who are closely affiliated with Basil – Nimal Lanza, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, and Susantha Punchinilame – have constantly kept in touch with him and are pressurising him to return to Sri Lanka in order commence the general election campaigns. It is also learnt that Basil’s name is on top of the list of contenders to hold the post of general secretary of the proposed new alliance. A group of SLPP supporters have already made representations to that effect to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Nevertheless, the final decisions will be made once Basil returns to the island.