Chandrika cancels referendum

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, SEPT. 3. The Sri Lankan President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, today prepared to close a deal with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for outside support to her minority People's Alliance (PA) Government by announcing the cancellation of a controversial referendum and resummoning the prorogued Parliament ahead of the due date.

The JVP and the PA were scheduled to meet this evening for another round of discussions and perhaps to sign ``a memorandum of understanding'' formalising the agreement between the two parties. But before that, as demanded by the JVP, the President ordered the cancellation of a referendum for a new Constitution, first fixed for August 21 and then put off to October 18.

The Presidential Secretariat also announced that Parliament, prorogued in July, would be reconvened on September 6, a day ahead of schedule, again as laid down by the JVP. Both decisions were approved by the PA parliamentary group and the Cabinet on Sunday night, the state-run Daily News said today.

The PA also agreed to the other JVP demand that the present cabinet of 44 be cut down to 20. A frontline Kumaratunga loyalist, the Minister of Posts, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, was the first to pick up the cue. He handed in his resignation to the President last night to ``strengthen her hands'' to recast the Cabinet.

The PA also decided to give the ``highest priority'' to reforms in governance, namely the setting up of independent commissions to insulate various arms of the Government from political interference.

The JVP had asked for commissions for elections, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the police and the media.

Describing the deal as a ``probationary government'', the JVP has promised to extend its support to it for one year, provided all its demands are met. One of the demands is that there should be no talks with the LTTE during the ``probation'', but it is not known if the Government, which said last week it was considering inviting the LTTE for talks on its terms, had agreed to this.

At a public meeting on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary celebrations of her Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), chief constituent of the PA, Ms. Kumaratunga declared she was prepared to do a deal with ``any demon'' to foil a bid by the Opposition to topple her Government.

The tie-up with the JVP, a party which twice mounted an armed insurgency against the state and has an ideology that is a potent mix of Sinhala nationalism and socialism, might see the PA through an Opposition no-confidence motion that has to be taken up when Parliament reconvenes.

But the United National Party (UNP), which is spearheading the motion, said the tie-up was irrelevant as at least 15 to 17 members of the PA would vote against the Government and help carry the motion.

Said to be among the dissidents are three senior Ministers, including the Constitutional Affairs Minister, Mr. G. L. Peiris, who crossed swords with Ms. Kumaratunga over the calling of the referendum. She has also publicly fallen out with the Poverty Alleviation Minister, Mr. S. B. Dissanayake, who was once in her inner coterie. The two are not expected to be named to the new Cabinet.

Meanwhile, a meeting between parliamentary party leaders and the Speaker, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, to fix the agenda for the opening day of Parliament scheduled today was put off to Tuesday.

While the UNP wants the no-confidence motion taken up first, the PA leader, Mr. Richard Pathirana, said that as the PA and the JVP together were in a majority in the House, they should be allowed to fix the agenda. At this, the JVP asked for a postponement of the meeting till tomorrow as it was yet to finalise its deal with the Government.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : 'Pak. will continue raising Kashmir at
           international fora'
Next     : Fiji polls: Path not yet clear for Chaudhry