By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has mastered the art of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. The party successfully carried out the well-planned strategy to save the United National Party (UNP) from the embarrassment of a defeat at a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against Rishad Bathiudeen, by tabling an NCM against the Government, and at the same time managed to convince its cadres that the Party still considers the capitalist UNP as enemy number one.

The JVP has deviated from the position of anti-capitalist (read: anti-UNP), and became the most trusted supporter of Ranil Wickremesinghe. While voting with the UNP in all previous No-Confidence Motions against the Government, the JVP suddenly found that the party cadres, especially the young radicals, were not happy about the pro-UNP stance of the Marxist party. As there is a good possibility of JVP cadres crossing over to the more radical Forward Party (Peratugami), the JVP now wants to attack the UNP too, at least in public.

After the Easter Sunday Explosions, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake decided to attack the UNP and Ranil Wickremesinghe for the ills of the country. At the same time, the party obviously have an understanding with the UNP. The moment the Opposition tabled a No-Confidence Motion against Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Parliament, for his alleged links with Islamist terrorists, the JVP came out with another NCM, this time against the Government. This was a clear tactic to confuse the issue.

The vote of the No-Confidence Motion, tabled by the JVP against the Government, was taken up last Thursday, and defeated by 27 votes. Some of the ardent critics of the Government were among the absentees in Parliament, including Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Duminda Dissanayake, S.B. 

Nawinna, Dunesh Gankanda, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Ashoka Priyantha, Douglas Devananda, Shivashakthi Anandan, and V. Radhakrishnan.
The NCM was tabled against the Government for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday Bombings. The UNP and TNA voted against the NCM, accumulating a total of 119 votes, while the Joint Opposition and JVP voted in favour of the motion, reaching 92 votes in total.

Last-minute bribery tactic

The JVP Leader said Premier Wickremesinghe deployed his usual last-minute bribery tactic on the TNA, in order to save face, and defeat the No-Confidence Motion brought against his government. According to him, the bribe was the promise to form a separate District Council for Kalmunai. Dissanayake alleged that Minister Mangala Samaraweera has even done the needful, including approving the necessary cadre, in order to set the procedures in motion, to realise the promise made to the TNA, in exchange for their votes.If Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sampanthan took the right decision, this NCM could have been defeated because the Government had only 105 against the motion even by this morning,” Dissanayake said after the NCM defeat.

When President Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in October 2018, the JVP came out openly in support of the UNP Leader. The JVP Leader’s argument was, his party did not care who will be the Prime Minister, but were troubled about the unconstitutional method used to get rid of Wickremesinghe and appoint Rajapaksa. Without giving a chance to explain the policies of the new Prime Minister, the JVP Leader jumped to the conclusion that this person will not be able to come up with a new plan to initiate a good political culture, or a good economic policy for this country. We do not have faith in any person from either side.”

After extending support to the Government to defeat the NCM, the TNA has proved that it was an ally of the UNP. Thus, TNA Leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan indirectly acknowledged that his appointment as Opposition Leader earlier was wrong. All the TNA MPs – barring Shivashakthi Anandan, who abstained – voted against the NCM.

The TNA is using the current political developments to its advantage, with its dual principle of supporting Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNF, while criticising the Government, to appease the North and the East vote base.
The JVP-sponsored NCM against the Government was doomed to be defeated, because it was tabled with the intention of safeguarding Rishad Bathiudeen. If there was a vote on the NCM against Bathiudeen, there was a strong possibility of victory, as, in addition to the Joint Opposition members and SLFP members, a fair section of the UNF, TNA and JVP would have voted for the NCM.

UNP and TNA
Christian MPs

The UNP and TNA Christian MPs were planning to vote against Rishad Bathiudeen at that time. The NCM against Bathiudeen lapsed with his resignation from the Cabinet. Those UNP and TNA members, who openly said that they would vote for the NCM against Bathiudeen, could not vote for the JVP-sponsored NCM, as it was against the Government.
In the debate, the JVP Leader said the Government has failed to ensure the security of the country’s people, as evidenced by the Easter Sunday Terror Attacks. Moreover, it has now been clearly established that the Government failed to heed numerous warnings about an impending terrorist attack by Zahran Hashim and his associates.”  

Accordingly, the Government has no moral right to be in charge of the security of the country or its people,” he said, and pointed out that what was in power now was a minority Government, with just 106 MPs sitting on the Government side, while 118 MPs were in the Opposition. He called on Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure that all UPFA MPs were present in Parliament, to vote for the NCM. He also called on TNA Leader R. Sampanthan to ensure that the TNA votes in support of the NCM.

After the NCM is approved, this Parliament has a duty to pass another resolution by a 2/3 majority, dissolving this Parliament, and paving the way for an early General Election, so that the people can elect a new Government. It is what the people deserve,” Dissanayake said.

Now that the NCM is defeated, one anxiously awaits to see if the JVP would vote against Rishad Bathiudeen, if he becomes a Minister once again, and an NCM was brought against him by the Opposition.

 CT Web 02:00 AM Jul 15 2019