By Skandha Gunasekara Senior Deputy Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa asserted that the party had no intention of abandoning talks with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to form an alliance. Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning: What progress has been made with regard to your proposed alliance with the SLPP? There have been eight rounds of talks with the SLPP so far. In the first stage, there were six rounds of talks, and during the second stage, we had more intense discussions with the higher levels of the two parties. I expect the third stage would see (SLPP Leader) Mahinda Rajapaksa and (SLFP Leader) President Maithripala Sirisena come to the table. In the early stages, we came to an agreement on 25 points regarding national policies, but during that stage, the SLPP went ahead and announced their candidate without our knowledge. We are sad and disappointed about this, as they did this while we were in discussions about a presidential candidate for the proposed alliance. Nevertheless, we won’t abandon these talks. We believe we need to form a broad leftist alliance. We realise that the SLFP is more important than the other parties in the proposed alliance because it is the party that has come to power five times already. The current President is from the SLFP and we have a huge grassroots base. So we stand firm on the SLFP identity being protected and the party being respected. Considering the recent remarks and attacks by President Sirisena against the SLPP, it appears the President is not very interested in this alliance. Is the alliance only the need of the SLPP? No. Our party’s main aim right now is to form a broad coalition against the UNP. That is one of the main reasons we won’t abandon talks. From the very beginning, we had the blessing of our Party Leader President Sirisena to go ahead with talks. He has been watching closely. Yes, we have some doubts – for example, while we were in discussions, they announced their candidate – but we are not going to hold it against them. We are going ahead with talks. Is the problem with the talks right now to do with the symbol for the proposed alliance? Yes. There are issues regarding the symbol as well as other matters such as what sort of quota we would get at the parliamentary election. We need to establish such things before we enter into an alliance. So what symbol has the SLFP proposed for the alliance? We have proposed that the SLFP drop the hand symbol and the SLPP drop the flower bud symbol and go for a fresh symbol for the alliance. President Sirisena in recent remarks was critical of members of the SLPP. How do you see this? Before the 51-day Government in October last year, the SLPP were calling on us to leave the Government so that they could return to the SLFP proper. Then, President Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. What did the SLPP do? The very next day, they went and took membership of the SLPP. The Speaker then requested a clarification on which party they were representing in Parliament as they would lose their parliamentary seat otherwise. Then they came and begged us to inform Parliament that they were still part of the UPFA. So the President mercifully decided to grant them respite and got the UPFA General Secretary to inform the Speaker that they were still in the UPFA. If they now disregard that goodwill that was extended and say that they don’t need the SLFP support and that the SLFP has a small voter base, then we must retort. We must stand up for ourselves. It doesn’t mean we are abandoning talks with the SLPP. This group betrayed the SLFP in October last year and took membership of the SLPP; then again, this year, they betrayed the SLFP and announced their presidential candidate. So why is the SLFP seeking an alliance with such a group? What we believe is that despite our differences of opinion, these are all leftist politicians. We all came into Parliament through the SLFP. We have no intention of working with the UNP. But we know we can work with the SLPP group. Of course there’ll be criticism. That is a sign of a healthy alliance. Has the SLFP begun selecting its own candidate in case talks with the SLPP fails? Not yet. We still hope to form an alliance. We know that we cannot attain 6.3 million votes alone. None of the current candidates can attain the required votes to win without forming an alliance. So we must decide whether we should contest alone and split the vote, giving advantage to the UNP, or form an alliance and help defeat the UNP. We are a democratic party and we are aware of the dangers if all power is concentrated in one single party. Last week, the SLFP suspended the membership of several party members. Do you not fear more defections to the SLPP? No. I think our party has been too flexible thus far. After the 2015 election, President Sirisena called on SLFPers to form a Government. Some came but some refused. The President allowed this. Then this SLFP group went ahead and formed the SLPP. We were patient then too. Some SLFPers left the party and took membership of the SLPP. We could have taken disciplinary action then but we didn’t. We were very liberal. So in the midst of all this, the very MPs who were part of our party, who were ministers alongside us, began criticising the party from the outside. At this point, we decided to take prompt disciplinary action. I expect we will be able to clean out the SLFP in the near future to maintain a clean party. So only these SLFPers had their memberships suspended? For now, they have been suspended. Our Central Committee will decide and inform those suspended of future disciplinary action. Some of these suspended SLFPers are very senior members of the party, such as MP A.H.M. Fowzie. Why then hasn’t action been taken against Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa who not only took membership of the SLPP but is also its leader? We decided that disciplinary action would be taken in stages. Those who were suspended recently were those brought into Parliament through the National List. They had been rejected by the people but President Sirisena had given them a parliamentary seat through the National List. But it also must be understood that in politics, there is a certain degree of plotting and planning to ensure victory. Just because disciplinary action could be taken, it doesn’t have to be taken or taken straight away. Or is it because the SLFP is too afraid to sack Mahinda Rajapaksa and his voter base with him? No, nothing of the sort. We must use tactics and ploys when doing politics. We can’t jump the gun. When President Sirisena was made common candidate in 2015, the then President and Party Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa invited President Sirisena to take over leadership of the SLFP. As a party, we must be able to be tactical and plan carefully. In the event the SLFP contests alone, do you have a realistic chance of beating the SLPP or the UNF? No. We have not taken any such decision. Solely because the Election Commission asked, we informed them that we may contest alone. But we have no intention of going in alone this time. But what if the proposed alliance with the SLPP fails? Would you form an alliance with another political force? Yes, of course. There are alternatives. We are now in the process of holding talks with other leftist politicians and groups such as MPs Dinesh Gunawardena, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, D.E.W. Gunasekara, and Tissa Vitharana. We expect to begin discussions this week. Some have opined that if Sajith Premadasa doesn’t get the UNP nomination, he could align with the SLFP. How do you see this? No. In politics, we must not assume. If and when it happens, we will decide how to move forward.