Chandrika diverting attention from real issues: Ranil

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, NOV. 9. The leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, today asserted that his campaign was unhurt by a People's Alliance propaganda blitz to link him to the LTTE in the run-up to the December 5 parliamentary elections.

``I am not on the defensive at all. They are trying to divert attention from the real issues and everyone knows that,'' he told journalists, on his custom-built campaign bus heading to an election rally.

The PA had used the same rhetoric in previous elections. It had worked in the 1999 Presidential election because it was ``new'' then, but the same propaganda had virtually no effect in the 2000 general election, and it would not in this election either.

``We are growing in strength with every week. We are the leading party,'' he claimed.

But the PA allegations have worried the UNP enough in the last few days for it to dispatch its top leaders to meet politically influential Buddhist monks and clarify to them that the party had no ``secret understanding'' with the LTTE.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said he too had met a leading monk, known for his harsh Sinhala rhetoric, and explained to him the UNP position with regard to the LTTE.

Nevertheless, the torrent of accusations from the PA is relentless to the point of eclipsing every other issue in the election. In a Sinhala-language interview on State television on Thursday, the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, repeated that the UNP policy on the ethnic issue was a recipe for the division of the country.

Commenting on the UNP manifesto, which promises talks with all parties, including the LTTE, to find a political solution to the conflict, and proposes a ``temporary administration'' in the north-east, she said Mr. Wickremesinghe would hand over the administration of the north-east to the LTTE, and also withdraw the armed forces from the troubled region.

Observers are of the view that Mr. Wickremesinghe has been unable to counter the accusations effectively.

``It is crazy to think that Mr. Wickremesinghe and the LTTE have signed a secret pact, but equally, he has done little to meet the charge because he does not seem to realise that this is an issue,'' said Mr. Sinha Ratnatunga, editor of the Sunday Times.

But the UNP leader is brimming with confidence and believes it is only a matter of weeks before he becomes Prime Minister and takes charge of the country, notwithstanding the fact that Ms. Kumaratunga will remain the President.

``I will run the government and I will deliver the results,'' he said, underlining that his first priority would be peace and to get the economy moving.

The new government would revive the Norwegian facilitation for negotiations with the LTTE. Lifting of the ban on the LTTE and a ceasefire would be issues discussed during ``talks about talks'', which he would set in motion immediately after the election, he said.

Mr. Wickremsinghe said he would lift the economic embargo on LTTE-held areas immediately to ease the hardship of the people living in those areas.

The ``temporary administration'' proposed in the manifesto would be manned by public servants to bring the north- east back into the administrative fold of the government.

He refused to comment on Ms. Kumaratunga's declaration that the increased consumption of chicken and cooking gas, and the rise in the number of autorickshaws on the roads were indicators of a flourishing economy.

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Section  : International
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