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RANIL STILL ATTEMPTS TO FORM A GOVERNMENT WITH TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE WHILE CRITIC SAYS HIS CAREER IS OVER
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(Photo by: David Gray )
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

April 04, 01.00 PM: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who has been given a crushing defeat by the majority Sinhala voters at the recently concluded general elections had been engaged in several rounds of talks to form the new government with the help of the Tamil National Alliance, political sources in Colombo said.

Sources said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had not only contacted the Tamil political parties in this regard but even some pro-UNP Buddhist monks to get the help of certain sections of the monks elected under the banner of the Jathika Hela Urumaya ( JHU).

UNP Secretary General Tissa Kapukotuwa refused to talks about the question of forming the government but told inquiring reporters that since the final results would not be issued by the Commissioner of Elections until Monday nothing could be said definitely about forming a coalition with other parties.

The pro-UNP Sunday Leader newspaper quoted the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) General Secretary Thilak Karunaratne as saying that his party would be willing to form an alliance with any one of the two single largest parties who agreed with the set of conditions already put forward by the monks.

But contradicting the alleged statement in the Sunday Leader, Venerable Uduwe Dhammaloka, the leader of the Colombo team of candidates told the Sinhala service of the BBC, the Sandeshaya that they would not become part of any government , but sit in the opposition supporting only pro-Sinhala Buddhist issues.”

Whether with the help of the monks or not, Ranil Wickremesinghe was doing many discussions with the Tamil National Alliance, the proxy parliamentary group of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) investigating all possible avenues to remain in power, the sources said.

To form a government, the UNP would also look into attracting members of other small minority groups, the sources said.

But respected Sunday Times columnist Rajpal Abeynayaka said, “ Has Ranil Wickremesinghe reached the end of the road in his political career? That's not the most important question as far as this country's future is concerned. But, the answer to this question may also answer several more questions. Ranil Wickremesinghe's political future lies in the balance, after he has led the UNF to what seems to be an emphatic defeat. In terms of the possibilities under the system of Proportional Representation, the UPFA has scored a big win. True, not all results are out at the time of writing. But of seats officially allocated so far, 47 have gone the way of the Alliance. The UNF gets 32. On projections made, the UPFA will secure around 108 or 109 seats in the end. Technically, that number also provides for a hung parliament. But, in real terms, the UPFA has almost put paid to Ranil Wickremesinghe's political career. A UNF government, even through the most unlikely of electoral arrangements with coalition partners, will now be untenable. The lead for the UPFA, assuming that the UPFA leads with around 108, and the UNF trails with around 88, is far too glaring for the UNF to attempt a coalition. There will be far too much dissent in the South. It will be tantamount to going against a clear people's mandate in the Sinhala majority areas of the country.”

( go2lanka.com)