“According to sources, when the party was restructured after destruction in the late 80’s the military and political wings were separated and the leader of the military wing was placed as the overall leader of the party where Somawansa Amarasinghe who is the political leader remains as just a figurehead under Gunaratnam’s command.”_______________________
by Our Special Political Correspondent.
(May 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) As the JVP’s Wimal Weerawansa faction is planning to launch their political party after Eastern Provincial Council polls on May 10th, sources have revealed that there are more cadres of the political party including provincial councilors and members of local bodies would rally round with the breakaways.
According to sources two parliamentarians from the south may join the new party as they have already ceased communications with the party and the JVP leadership is desperately trying to prevent them joining the Weerawansa faction as if few more would defected, it would be detrimental on the party’s reputation in the eyes of its expatriate and migrant worker supporter base, who fund the party by remitting millions of rupees monthly to its accounts.
Meanwhile, the sources have further raveled that the true cause of the conflict was the Weerawansa challenging the authoritative leadership of the JVP’s overall leader Premakumar Gunaratnam who is the commander of the JVP’s military wing, which is presently in sleeping status.
According to sources, when the party was restructured after destruction in the late 80’s the military and political wings were separated and the leader of the military wing was placed as the overall leader of the party where Somawansa Amarasinghe who is the political leader remains as just a figurehead under Gunaratnam’s command.
The parliamentary group leader Weerawansa had detested the undue influence of Gunaratnam and the military leaders on their political affairs and his open ignorance of the instructions on keeping the activities of Desha Hitheshee Jathika Viyaparaya (DHJV)and Manel Mall movement, which were started as the offshoots of the party to win Sinhala nationalist and the army at a low profile was the initial cause of the rift, the sources said.
According to sources Weerawansa advancing on nationalists lines was able to gather prominent nationalists like Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, Prof. Nalin de Silva Dr. Piyasena Dissanayake, S.L. Gunasekera and such around his DHJV, which was envied by many party strongmen in the party as a possible threat to their positions.
Though he was the Publicity Secretary and a Politburo member, there were many before him in seniority in the politburo, who disliked Weerawansa thriving on nationalistic lines.
Weerawansa who played a major role in the JVP’s campaign to bring Presidnet Rajapakse into power is reportedly close with the President and was reluctant to take steps which would hamper ongoing military operations against the LTTE in the North.
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