Ranil tightens grip in party

By Dharisha Bastians

Strengthened by the constitutional amendments that give him power over the appointment of office bearers to the Party in December, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday led the Working Committee to postpone the re-appointment of Sajith Premadasa to the position of Deputy Leader yesterday.

The United National Party Working Committee which met yesterday re-appointed Joseph Michael Perera and Daya Gamage to the Assistant Leader and National Organizer positions but put off Premadasa’s reappointment due to issues regarding his contribution to the Party and the leadership, Daily FT learns.

No decision has been made about Premadasa’s reappointment, although various matters pertaining to the deputy leadership were brought up during the Working Committee meeting, a source who was present at the meeting told Daily FT.

“The opinion in the Working Committee is that Premadasa does not contribute to Party activity in anyway, and pursues his own agenda. In truth, he does nothing as Deputy Leader to ease the burden of the Party Leader,” highly placed sources said.

The source said that it was the view of the Committee that Premadasa was constantly splitting hairs, and skipped crucial Working Committee meetings and obtained time from the TNA to speak in Parliament regarding the impeachment when the UNP allocated time to lawyers only. There were unofficial proposals at the Committee to bring constitutional amendments that will create two or more deputy leaders of the UNP who will be appointed on a regional basis.

The source said that most importantly, the Working Committee appeared tired of the factionalism within the Party since no one present spoke in support of Premadasa yesterday.

Premadasa was not present at the Working Committee meeting since he is an ex-officio member of the Committee and could not attend until he was reappointed. However, party insiders said Premadasa had been at Sirikotha while the meeting was underway. Perera and Gamage were summoned into the meeting after their reappointments were made.

The UNP Leader is also expected to hold discussions with Premadasa prior to a decision being made with regard to the reappointment to the position, party officials said. Amendments adopted to the UNP constitution during the Party’s Convention in December last year did away with the annual election of office bearers including the Party Leader, extended the term of the Leader to six years. However, all other office bearers are to be appointed by the Leader on an annual basis, as per the new amendments.

The UNP Working Committee usually meets once a month.