By Skandha Gunasekara
United National Party (UNP) MP Mayantha Dissanayake asserted that Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was in no way pressured into nominating Deputy Leader Minister Sajith Premadasa as the Party’s presidential candidate and assured that the entire Party supported the candidate.
Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning:
There was much rejoicing when Sajith Premadasa was officially announced the UNP presidential candidate, but is everyone on board?
The entire Party is in a very joyful mood, simply because we have got Sajith Premadasa as our presidential candidate and this candidate very clearly has the ability to win.
The UNP, whatever our internal differences may be, wants to win the next presidential election and continue to form a new government. So the people, the rank and file, our supporters, our friends, our party organisers, our branches, and chairmen of Party organisations are overjoyed that we have a presidential candidate that can win. This candidate has the backing of the entire Party, so is in a position to unite the entire Party.
Despite Premadasa staunchly stating that he would not entertain any conditions for being given the candidacy, some still opine that the candidacy is conditional. Did the party leadership covertly include conditions at the last minute?
No. It is very clear that having conditions would not be fair. For example, my father did not have conditions when he was made the presidential candidate. It is not fair to have conditions that would hinder the candidate.
However, the Party has certain obligations and policies that the Party has followed over the years. So, whoever the presidential candidate is will have to talk to the leadership of the Party and come to an agreement on what policies of the party that the candidate would implement if he wins.
So there has to be dialogue and consensus on the policies of the UNP and how those policies would be implemented. These are very different from any preconditions for being given the nomination.
You say the Party is united but some quarters claim that certain UNPers who were against a Premadasa candidacy would work against him behind the scenes. How do you see this?
Well, the UNP is very democratic in its approach; so we have different views and opinions that we express, but once we make a decision and we announce and nominate our presidential candidate, every single member will join the Party’s thinking and work day and night to ensure the victory of our candidate. We will not hinder, we will support and put the full weight of the party behind our candidate.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) remains undecided on whom to support and have said they would wait for nominations to choose. How does Premadasa hope to court the TNA?
Again, it’s to do with policy. We would have a policy that the minority parties can support. It’s up to the TNA and other minority parties to decide which policies presented by the candidates they want to support.
So far, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and all the other minority parties have supported the UNP because they are naturally aligned with us. So I’m sure that in the future, all minority parties can support the right presidential candidate. That’s a decision that those political parties have to make.
Can the United National Front (UNF) win without the TNA’s support?
That remains to be seen. I think every party must stand by itself, but at the same time, the support of other common thinking political parties is absolutely essential. We must unite everyone behind a candidate that can win the election and will build and develop the country. My belief is that Sajith Premadasa is that person.
Would it be a Premadasa manifesto or a UNP manifesto?
It’ll definitely be a UNP-UNF manifesto with lots of input from the presidential candidate, because he is running for the post. It will be a consultation and consensus between the presidential candidate and the UNF as a political force.
If elected, what should Premadasa’s key objectives be during his tenure?
I would say when elected President, not if. When he is elected as President, he should focus on poverty alleviation, development of the country, power regeneration, job orientation, and economic development.
We have seen Sajith Premadasa work tirelessly for housing and working for the under privileged. We have seen him do all that in his entire political career, especially in the last four years as the Minister of Housing and Construction. So it will be an upscale effort to get the country moving forward.
You mentioned some key issues there, but what about the abolition of the executive presidency and power devolution?
Certainly. Sajith Premadasa is thinking on the lines of power devolution to some extent, but it is up to the leadership of the Party and Premadasa to discuss these things and come up with a policy that is fitting for the country.
Even in 2015, the UNP said that we were for the abolition of the executive presidency, so we must wait for our manifesto to make it clear as to what we are going to do exactly. I for one am personally for the abolition of the executive presidency.
Was Ranil Wickremesinghe forced to succumb to pressure as opposed to willingly nominating Premadasa?
Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Leader of the Party and the Prime Minister is the one who nominated and proposed Sajith Premadasa’s name. That should make it absolutely clear that Wickremesinghe cannot be coerced or pressured into doing something he doesn’t want to do. It was very clearly his choice to nominate Premadasa.
Do you think Premadasa and Wickremesinghe will be able to coexist and work together as President and Prime Minister?
Wickremesinghe can work with President Maithripala Sirisena after all that they have gone through, so I don’t think there’ll be any issue at all for Wickremesinghe and Premadasa to work together. After all, for many years, they have worked together as the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Party.
If Wickremesinghe had a problem with Premadasa, he would have removed Premadasa as the Deputy Leader many years ago.
Is there a move to eventually abolish the executive presidency and give Wickremesinghe executive powers under an UNF government?
I’m not aware of any moves of that nature, but like I said, my personal view is that the executive presidency should be abolished and that they should have checks and balances between the Executive and the Legislature in the future.
United National Party (UNP) MP Mayantha Dissanayake asserted that Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was in no way pressured into nominating Deputy Leader Minister Sajith Premadasa as the Party’s presidential candidate and assured that the entire Party supported the candidate.
Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning:
There was much rejoicing when Sajith Premadasa was officially announced the UNP presidential candidate, but is everyone on board?
The entire Party is in a very joyful mood, simply because we have got Sajith Premadasa as our presidential candidate and this candidate very clearly has the ability to win.
The UNP, whatever our internal differences may be, wants to win the next presidential election and continue to form a new government. So the people, the rank and file, our supporters, our friends, our party organisers, our branches, and chairmen of Party organisations are overjoyed that we have a presidential candidate that can win. This candidate has the backing of the entire Party, so is in a position to unite the entire Party.
Despite Premadasa staunchly stating that he would not entertain any conditions for being given the candidacy, some still opine that the candidacy is conditional. Did the party leadership covertly include conditions at the last minute?
No. It is very clear that having conditions would not be fair. For example, my father did not have conditions when he was made the presidential candidate. It is not fair to have conditions that would hinder the candidate.
However, the Party has certain obligations and policies that the Party has followed over the years. So, whoever the presidential candidate is will have to talk to the leadership of the Party and come to an agreement on what policies of the party that the candidate would implement if he wins.
So there has to be dialogue and consensus on the policies of the UNP and how those policies would be implemented. These are very different from any preconditions for being given the nomination.
You say the Party is united but some quarters claim that certain UNPers who were against a Premadasa candidacy would work against him behind the scenes. How do you see this?
Well, the UNP is very democratic in its approach; so we have different views and opinions that we express, but once we make a decision and we announce and nominate our presidential candidate, every single member will join the Party’s thinking and work day and night to ensure the victory of our candidate. We will not hinder, we will support and put the full weight of the party behind our candidate.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) remains undecided on whom to support and have said they would wait for nominations to choose. How does Premadasa hope to court the TNA?
Again, it’s to do with policy. We would have a policy that the minority parties can support. It’s up to the TNA and other minority parties to decide which policies presented by the candidates they want to support.
So far, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and all the other minority parties have supported the UNP because they are naturally aligned with us. So I’m sure that in the future, all minority parties can support the right presidential candidate. That’s a decision that those political parties have to make.
Can the United National Front (UNF) win without the TNA’s support?
That remains to be seen. I think every party must stand by itself, but at the same time, the support of other common thinking political parties is absolutely essential. We must unite everyone behind a candidate that can win the election and will build and develop the country. My belief is that Sajith Premadasa is that person.
Would it be a Premadasa manifesto or a UNP manifesto?
It’ll definitely be a UNP-UNF manifesto with lots of input from the presidential candidate, because he is running for the post. It will be a consultation and consensus between the presidential candidate and the UNF as a political force.
If elected, what should Premadasa’s key objectives be during his tenure?
I would say when elected President, not if. When he is elected as President, he should focus on poverty alleviation, development of the country, power regeneration, job orientation, and economic development.
We have seen Sajith Premadasa work tirelessly for housing and working for the under privileged. We have seen him do all that in his entire political career, especially in the last four years as the Minister of Housing and Construction. So it will be an upscale effort to get the country moving forward.
You mentioned some key issues there, but what about the abolition of the executive presidency and power devolution?
Certainly. Sajith Premadasa is thinking on the lines of power devolution to some extent, but it is up to the leadership of the Party and Premadasa to discuss these things and come up with a policy that is fitting for the country.
Even in 2015, the UNP said that we were for the abolition of the executive presidency, so we must wait for our manifesto to make it clear as to what we are going to do exactly. I for one am personally for the abolition of the executive presidency.
Was Ranil Wickremesinghe forced to succumb to pressure as opposed to willingly nominating Premadasa?
Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Leader of the Party and the Prime Minister is the one who nominated and proposed Sajith Premadasa’s name. That should make it absolutely clear that Wickremesinghe cannot be coerced or pressured into doing something he doesn’t want to do. It was very clearly his choice to nominate Premadasa.
Do you think Premadasa and Wickremesinghe will be able to coexist and work together as President and Prime Minister?
Wickremesinghe can work with President Maithripala Sirisena after all that they have gone through, so I don’t think there’ll be any issue at all for Wickremesinghe and Premadasa to work together. After all, for many years, they have worked together as the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Party.
If Wickremesinghe had a problem with Premadasa, he would have removed Premadasa as the Deputy Leader many years ago.
Is there a move to eventually abolish the executive presidency and give Wickremesinghe executive powers under an UNF government?
I’m not aware of any moves of that nature, but like I said, my personal view is that the executive presidency should be abolished and that they should have checks and balances between the Executive and the Legislature in the future.