Ranil must not budge

by Sudu Banda

(September 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) After watching a TV news item one day last week about some UNP MPs, namely Johnston Fernando, Lakshman Seneviratne and Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena questioning the leadership of the party, I decided it was time somebody put the record straight. All what some MPs do after an election defeat is put the blame on party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and challenge his leadership. Let it be said that the UNP lost Ratnapura because of the person who was put in charge of the campaign — S. B. Dissanayake — who is also supposed to be the party’s national organiser.

The party lost Anuradhapura because the MPs there felt insecure and did not support Janaka Perera. If these people worked hard the UNP would not have lost the poll. These people are from the area and it is their responsibility to see that the party wins.

Despite this lack of support the UNP voters rallied round "outsiders" Ranjan Ramanayake and Janaka Perera, giving them the highest number of preferential votes which shows that the people have lost faith in the MPs. All what these MPs do is blame Ranil without doing any work to win elections.

Should not the national organiser, be asked to step down because it is his job to organise the campaigns and deliver victory to the party? His record so far has been dismal.

If they think the UNP is weak because of Ranil, they are dead wrong. The voters have shown this by increasing the party’s vote base in the two provinces. If the UNP is weak it is because of the MPs who are obviously not up to the mark.

If not for the despicable UNP MPs who crossed over, this government would not be there today. Do you think UNP supporters will ever vote for these 30 Judases who spat on their faces? Or for that matter, even SLFPers? No way! Come the next election they will be thrown straight to the political dustbin. What the UNP must do is get more young blood and win back voters’ confidence like what happened with Ranjan and Janaka.

The UNP must amend its constitution to prevent MPs crossing over to another party or else, the voters should have the opportunity of taking legal action against the MPs because they blatantly cheat the voter by supporting the party the voter is opposed to. These cross-overs should be stopped and the party constitution should be amended to ensure this.

It looks as if these MPs have forgotten the vote base that Ranil has. Can anyone challenge the 4.8 million votes (mind you without the votes in the north east) that he got last time? Do you think any of these so-called ‘reformists’ could obtain so many votes? If not for the alleged Mahinda-Tiger deal to stop the people in the northeast from voting, Ranil would be the president today.

We have some good UNP politicians, but they are too young for leadership. The government will offer millions to buy up UNP MPs, and these scoundrels think that the UNP voters are fools to believe their cock and bull stories about all the good things that Mahinda is supposed to be doing. In a way it is good to get rid of these traitors and go for new faces like Ranjan and Janaka who are attracting huge support.

Contrary to the thinking of some of the seniors in the UNP I strongly feel Ranil is a strong leader. These people including the ambitious national organiser cannot have their way with Ranil and that is the reason why some of these people run to Mahinda.

Some others do Mahinda’s bidding from within the party and call for Ranil’s ouster. They think that they can make him dance according to their music. When that does not happen they speak of the need for "reforms."

It is high time that Ranil made use of the powers vested in him by the party constitution and took control of the party. It is my strong belief that he is the only ‘clean’ leader right now, who can take our country to the next level.
- Sri Lanka Guardian