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Long Awaited Silver Lining for the SLFP-Exit of CBK As Leader

By Darmitha-Kotte

Birthdays are happy times for the person celebrating it. This time it is the 61st birthday of Chandrika Kumaratunga our former President, that is being celebrated on 29th June 2006. Will it be a happy day for the " birthday girl"-? This is a question only she can answer depending on what she has done to earn such celebrations. In sympathy- we do wish her "Happy birthday."

It is a rare privilage to be the daughter of highly respected parents like the late Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and late Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike who were both Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka. Chandrika Kumaratunga inherited the mantle of Head of State due to the fact that citizens of this country expected her to live up to the high ideals upheld by her late parents. Chandrika Kumaratunga was twice blessed-she inherited the leadership of the SLFP and also became the First Lady of Sri Lanka. Eleven years later, people of this country have realized that they really and truly made a mistake in electing her to such high offices.

The eleven years under Chandrika Kumaratunga's leadership has been nothing other than a period of cheating and lies, arrogance and vindictiveness, third rate low down politics and a wonderful opportunity for her personally to amass wealth through commissions & manipulations, attempts to divert state funds to NGOs with personal stakes in them, to manipulate the Cabinet to divest state properties for her personal use and worst of all- to scheme and manipulate the SLFP leadership to suite her own agendas & that of her brother. It took opponents to the Supreme Courts to prove that she was attempting to hold on to the post of Executive Presidency through illegal methods and the verdict gave her no choice but to accede to the law of the land and step down.

Together with her brother Anura, these two children are of the impression that the SLFP is their personal inheritance which is downright insulting to all loyal SLFP members! Both children have let down their late parents very badly and destroyed the good name of "Bandaranaike" in this country.

Power hungry Chandrika Kumaratunga's attempts to hold on to the Party Leadership against the wishes of long-standing party stalwarts have seen an ugly phenomenon so truly synonymous with the name Chandrika Kumaratunga. Most reluctantly, she had to accept Mahinda Rajapakse as next President of Sri Lanka. The next come down for her was to accept the fact that she could not hold onto the post of President of SLFP unendingly without the popular support of the party members. However, she has make every attempt to make life for President elect Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse difficult, by not cooperating and blessing him for having taken over the mantle from her. At every turn she tried to block party decisions after the 2005 Presidential Elections. Ofcourse, she had an axe to grind because the new President blocked her attempts to divert state funds worth millions into the bank account of an NGO where she had personal stakes, he reduced the fancy security entourage she had designed for herself after retirement and put her in her rightful place!

Party members have exhausted their patience & finally decided that the Central Committee makes a decision to amend the Constitution to suite the current situation and take over her powers as President of the SLFP and transfer those powers to the current President Mr. Mahinda Rajapkse in order to better manage the party. Chandrika Kumaratunga who never did anything "constitutional "during her tenure of 11 years, now sheds crocodile tears saying that this attempt by the Central Committee to amend the Party Constitution is "unconstitutional" and irregular! At the moment she is spending her retirement in UK and finds it difficult to be in Sri Lanka to participate in this historical event because of her fear of being apprehended for legal battles that await her. In a letter to Mr. Maithripala Sirisena the Secretary of the Party (Sunday Leader dated 28th May 2006), she has given a long sob story about the unfair treatment meted out to her after having given such self-less service to the SLFP! Does she deserve anything better, is a question to be asked?

The SLFP is about to see a silver lining at the end of the tunnel and for sure, it will be a brighter future for the party without the burden of having the 2 Bandaranaike children making attempts to control it. The party must be controlled by party stalwarts, and not " time servers" like these two children. We wish the SLFP every success from now on & trust they will be ably led by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse.

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