The United National Party will accept no positions in the caretaker government to be appointed in the event of the victory of common opposition candidate retired Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the presidential polls, said the party’s general secretary Tissa Attanayake.
The number of ministers in the cabinet will be reduced to 35, he said, adding that a parliamentary election will be held immediate thereafter. He said the UNF would hold its first election rally on December 18 in Kandy after nominations were handed over.
meanwhile, Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake of JVP said, “Once General Sarath Fonseka becomes President after the January elections, he will form a caretaker government. There will be no Prime Minister in the caretaker government. However, after the General Election which is due before April next year, the party with the most number of seats in Parliament will appoint the Prime Minister,”
Questioning the government’s claim as to how the JVP could work together with a party like the UNP which killed so many JVPers, Mr. Dissanayake asked how the UPFA government could work together with people like Karuna and Pillayan who were LTTE members and also people like Tissa Vitarana and Wimal Weerawansa who were in favour of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Due to the prevailing political climate and the country heading towards a Presidential poll in two months, orders have been given out to the Police department to halt forthwith all operations to nab underworld kingpins and gangs, as per the lakbima news. After the war in the North and East concluded last May, the government launched an operation to eradicate the thriving underworld, and as a result over 100 underworld figures including many criminal gang leaders were killed. But some underworld leaders escaped and fled abroad.
According to Police sources, the decision with regard to halting operations tracking down underworld leaders and gangs had been taken by the Police top-brass, following pressure brought on them by politicians providing a safe haven for these criminals.
It is also said that most of the underworld leaders who had left the country due to the intense operations carried out by the Police have begun to return home —- since underworld elimination operations had been stopped for the time being. Political sources revealed that Kudu Lal who escaped abroad is due in Sri Lanka next week Read the rest of this entry »
The Left Front has decided to field Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne as its candidate at the upcoming presidential election. He will contest against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and possibly General Sarath Fonseka who is scheduled to confirm this week if he will run for the post.
At a media briefing in Colombo, Dr. Karunaratne said that his mission would be to create national unity, without which no development could take place. With the support of other leftist and democratic forces, the Left Front leader said, he would take up the fight on behalf of the working class and the suffering masses.
Dr. Karunaratne alleged the regime of president Mahinda Rajapaksa was backed by India and global powers, while Gen. Sarath Fonseka was the alternative of the far-right militaristic section of global powers.
General Sarath Fonseka is likely to contest the next Presidential Election, on the Lalith Front by using the eagle as the symbol. Sources said the Lalith Front, though a registered party, had not contested elections for a long time and was willing to provide Fonseka with a forum to contest the presidency. “There will be no problem in changing the party’s name or symbol,” they said.
However The joint Opposition, which is backing Fonseka as the ‘Common Candidate’, was exploring the possibility of using the ‘Rising Sun’ as its symbol, which belongs to the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). Discussions were held with TULF leader V. Anandasangaree on his party giving up its symbol, but there had been no positive response so far, sources said.
Meanwhile Fonseka has told the UNP National Organiser S. B. Dissanayake, who met him on Tuesday, that he welcomed Dissanayake’s support, but expected the UNP as a whole to help him re-establish democracy in the country. Asked what the TNA’s stand on backing Fonseka was, UNF sources said that their stand would depend on a public declaration of his solution to the problems confronting the Tamil community. from island
Es Bee met his party leader to discuss the Elephant Party’s plan to field a common candidate. “Don’t get caught to an SLFP rebel who doesn’t have public support,” he said referring to Wedding Sam. “If you can’t face the election as the leader, I could pilot the party to victory,” Es Bee said
Election phobia
Ra-Blue sent an SOS and summoned his confidants. “It seems that our alliance plan is going haywire. You have to find a way to stop any other person coming forward as the common candidate. Even die-hard party supporters can think that I have an election phobia and I’m scared to contest,” Ra-Blue told them.
Friends Become Foes
With Fonny falling out with old friends and entering the ring things have become curioser. Likewise, a little bird whispers that Nandana Vindana of former Jay Wee Pee fame now handling the touristas has warned Wee Mal that his dealings with the business types and the underhand deals done would be exposed if he utters one word against him. Oh dear… more will follow… more will follow Read the rest of this entry »
Chandrasiri Bandara, Sri Lanka’s most popular astrologer, looked at his birth chart and predicted that he would soon be assassinated. Bandara, 48, fears for his life because of a string of death threats that followed his bold forecast this year that the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, would be booted from office or killed. Bandara was charged with being a threat to national security and jailed for nine days.
‘’Even astrologers have horoscopes,’’ said Bandara, who has his own website and writes a column for an opposition newspaper. “Mine does not show a long life. Until 2012 there is a chance of someone in the government killing me.’’
Arresting and intimidating political dissidents, from journalists to aid workers, is nothing new in Sri Lanka. That was especially true in May when a final assault on the separatist Tamil Tigers ended one of the world’s longest-running civil wars Read the rest of this entry »
A group of UNP front-liners have planned to pressurise the newly formed United National Front (UNF) leadership to field UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the common Presidential candidate after making arrangements for General Sarath Fonseka also to contest on the ticket of another party, UNP sources revealed.
The main reason for this surprise move, according to these sources is the belief that it would be easier to defeat President Mahinda Rajapaksa by splitting the Sinhala vote in a three-cornered fight rather than in a straight contest. This new move is on the assumption that the Presidential poll will be held in January next year as widely expected, they added.
The UNP pressure group is looking into the possibility whether the UNF could field two candidates. “If there are legal snags in the way of fielding two candidates under the same party banner, we may have to field General Fonseka under the symbol of another party,” they said Read the rest of this entry »
At the Farewell ceremony, Gen. Fonseka paid a tribute to all the soldiers, injured and maimed in the battle field who helped to save the country in the war, while condoling with those who died. Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka in his final address before retiring from service said that politics must be kept out of the Army.
However, He noted the significant absence of the three armed forces at his farewell ceremony. As such, Gen. Fonseka received the salute of the three forces without the presence of their commanders. Speaking to the media after the ceremony Gen. Fonseka said he was retiring from his position as CDS with the contentment and delight that he had fulfilled his service to the people in the country to the utmost.
But the Director of the Media Center for National Security (MCNS) Lakshman Hulugala told, It is neither tradition nor compulsory for the commanders of the three armed forces to be present at a farewell ceremony of an outgoing commander. Mr. Hulugala that it is the Chief of Defense Staff’s office that bears responsibility for organizing the farewell ceremony and added that the absence of the three armed forces could be attributed to the fact that the ceremony was a ‘sudden’ one and put together with such short notice.
The absence of the three forces chiefs at the farewell ceremony of General Sarath Fonseka at the Army headquarters this morning raised eyebrows. When the General was asked to comment on it he said he will comment at the appropriate time.
The United National Party will accept no positions in the caretaker government to be appointed in the event of the victory of common opposition candidate retired Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the presidential polls, said the party’s general secretary Tissa Attanayake.
Posted by dzone 
Due to the prevailing political climate and the country heading towards a Presidential poll in two months, orders have been given out to the Police department to halt forthwith all operations to nab underworld kingpins and gangs, as per the lakbima news. After the war in the North and East concluded last May, the government launched an operation to eradicate the thriving underworld, and as a result over 100 underworld figures including many criminal gang leaders were killed. But some underworld leaders escaped and fled abroad.
Posted by dzone 
Posted by dzone 
The Left Front has decided to field Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne as its candidate at the upcoming presidential election. He will contest against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and possibly General Sarath Fonseka who is scheduled to confirm this week if he will run for the post.
General Sarath Fonseka is likely to contest the next Presidential Election, on the Lalith Front by using the eagle as the symbol. Sources said the Lalith Front, though a registered party, had not contested elections for a long time and was willing to provide Fonseka with a forum to contest the presidency. “There will be no problem in changing the party’s name or symbol,” they said.
these are the Best Newspaper Cartoons of Last Week
Chandrasiri Bandara, Sri Lanka’s most popular astrologer, looked at his birth chart and predicted that he would soon be assassinated. Bandara, 48, fears for his life because of a string of death threats that followed his bold forecast this year that the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, would be booted from office or killed. Bandara was charged with being a threat to national security and jailed for nine days.
A group of UNP front-liners have planned to pressurise the newly formed United National Front (UNF) leadership to field UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the common Presidential candidate after making arrangements for General Sarath Fonseka also to contest on the ticket of another party, UNP sources revealed.
At the Farewell ceremony, Gen. Fonseka paid a tribute to all the soldiers, injured and maimed in the battle field who helped to save the country in the war, while condoling with those who died. Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka in his final address before retiring from service said that politics must be kept out of the Army.
