By Shan Wijetunge
Two events of last week seem to have set the stage for significant developments on the political front in the near future. The first relates to the alleged meeting between Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane of the UNP and Thamil Chelvam. The second centres round the statement that the Leader of Opposition is reported to have made at a press interview suggesting that the government should have unconditional talks with the LTTE.

On May 29, Dr. Jayawardena visited the Madhu Church along with a Catholic priest. He had travelled there in an ICRC vehicle driven by a Tamil driver named Pathmanathan. Jayawardena, who is a life member of the ICRC had got this vehicle to travel from Vavuniya to Madhu. He had also obtained permission from the Ministry of Defence for this trip.

He returned to Vavuniya on June 1 and the Lake House papers, published a news item questioning why a UNPer had a secret meeting with LTTE leaders at Madhu. Although the visitor's name was not revealed, the news reports contained sufficient details to identify the person concerned.

In the meantime, the CID had arrested the driver and recorded statements from him. Dr. Jayawardena met the Speaker and requested permission to make a statement about the issue on the floor of the House. Initially, the Speaker did not agree pointing out that his name has not been specifically mentioned. However, on the doctor's insistence that the news reports contained sufficient details to pinpoint him, the Speaker agreed.

The CID later visited the MP's house to record a statement from him about the visit. Whether he met a soldier who had defected to the LTTE was also among the many questions put to him.

The Leader of the Opposition had arranged to allow Jayawardena 30 minutes of Parliament's time to make a statement. Accordingly, he explained his visit and denied the allegations. He challenged the accusers to prove the allegations levelled at him.

On the other side, General Anuruddha Ratwatte took steps to brief the ministers on the matter after the cabinet meeting of last Wednesday. He is reported to have told them that from the statements made by the driver of the vehicle, there is evidence about the meeting between Dr. Jayawardena and Thamil Chelvam. He promised further investigations and action on the matter.

Government's stand on these developments appear to have been summarised by the President when she declared at the District SLFP conference held at Maliyadeva College. She was not prepared for unconditional talks with Prabhakaran..." even if I am hanged, she is reported to have said.

Big onions
The question of big onions played a prominent role at the last cabinet meeting. Minister D. M. Jayaratne found fault with Minister Kingsley Wickram-aratne for importing 250 tons of big onions via the CWE at a time when they were being harvested in the dry zone.

Mr. Wickramaratne tried to justify his action on the grounds of the need to keep consumer prices low. Mr. Jayaratne took the stand that regardless of the market price, big onions should not be imported during harvest time. Otherwise, the farmer will get into serious difficulties.

Mr. Wickrama-ratne's contention was that the local harvest has not yet come to the market and without this import, prices would sky rocket. Exchange of words between the two contenders was long drawn out, sometimes rather hot. Finally, some sort of compromise was arrived at through the intervention of Minister G. L. Peiris who suggested a surcharge and an agreement to stop imports during harvesting time was arrived at.

Who will control the NGOs?
The cabinet sub committee on matters relating to NGOs met the President on Wednesday before the cabinet meeting. The sub committee report had recommended that co-ordination and control relating to NGOs should be entrusted either to the President or the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. However, both the President and Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle were of the opinion that it should be handled by the Ministry of Social Services.

Anura skips UNP meeting
Last Saturday, Anura met Mrs. Bandaranaike at her residence. The mother was apparently very pleased to hear about the meeting between the brother and the sister at Navaloka hospital.

Anura's visit and the talk with the mother definitely gladdened the mother's heart. She is hopeful about impending peace and harmony in the family.

In the meantime, Anura kept off the UNP Executive Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday. He sent a letter to his chief staing that he was leaving for India. He had stated that he would not question Tyronne Fernando's statements about him in the interests of the party, but had not indicated his intended absence from the meeting. It also had a sentence with a promise to meet Ranil Wickremasinghe at Los Angeles. While in India, Anura will meet Sai Baba with a message from the Prime Minister.

MEP and JVP
Responding to the letter sent to them by the JVP, the MEP had asked the JVP to clarify two points. The MEP had asserted that they are committed to maintain the geographical integrity of Sri Lanka and to abolish the executive presidential system. The MEP now requests the JVP to clarify their stand on these two issues.

Sovereignty and decorum
The question of maintaining the sovereignty and decorum of parliament figured prominently at the party leaders' meeting held under the chairmanship of the Speaker on Thursday. This meeting primarily deals with the agenda for the next week. Minister Richard Pathirana wanted the bill on the increasing of salaries of the staff of the National Education Commission to be passed without a debate. If the members want, educational matters can be taken up at the committee stage, he said. He also suggested that the parliament should meet without a break during the last week of October.

Ranil Wickreme-singhe complained about the government habit of postponing adjournment motions brought up by members without replying to them. The normal excuse given is that the relevant minister is not present. However, if the minister is not there, his deputy should take the responsibility. The Speaker agreed with him.

The proposal to have a committee to monitor the behaviour of MPs was put forward by W. J. M. Lokubandara. Since this is matter concerning the MPs only, the Speaker had the room cleared of all other officials and the discussions began.

It was finally agreed to set up a committee representing all parties in the Parliament with three members each from the two main parties and one member from each of the other parties.

They expect to see better behaviour in parliament soon.

All Party Conference
Last Wednesday, the UNP top brass met at the Cambridge Place office of the Leader of the Opposition to consider progress of the proposed all party conference. They were trying to assess how many would attend.

This conference has given a headache to the government as well. They know that they too will be invited and want a strategy to handle the situation. G. L. had stated that no discussion would be fruitful unless they dealt with the issue of devolution and he had been entrusted with the responsibility of taking a decision in consultation with the constituent parties of the PA and other Tamil parties.

As a first step, Prof. Peiris invited representatives of nine parties to Visumpaya on Thursday night. G. L. briefed them on the background to the All Party Conference. They exchanged views as to whether this is an honest attempt to resolve the burning issue. The majority opinion was that it is not. G.L. agreed.

He also explained that many matters scheduled to be discussed at the all party conference are included in the new constitutional proposals. The invitees expressed their ignorance on these and requested that constitutional proposals should be made public. Although they did not arrive at any firm decision, they agreed to meet again after the receipt of invitations.

Gala party at Barnes Place
While Prof. G. L. Peiris was entertaining his guests at dinner, many members of both sides were assembling at the Barnes Place residence of Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapakse and her husband Thiru Nadesan. Several ministers and deputy ministers, the Speaker, UNP leaders, Commander of the Army, Indian High Commissioner, top businessmen such as Ken Balendra, Sunil Mendis and Sanath Ukwatte and other guests were among the gathering. Politics was taboo and they used the opportunity to have a good time.

Muralitharan
The regular meeting of the Mulberry Group took place at a parliamentary committee room. The main business of the day was the preparation of an agenda for discussion with the President. The final agenda contained ten subjects. They included reactivating political victimisation committees, allocation of Rs. 10 million to each MPs for emergency development work, enhancement of the allocation of funds to MP, from the decentralised budget to five million rupees and the improvement of infrastructure facilities in border villages were among the four main items on the agenda.

They also maintained that the appointment of the new IGP was a victory for them and agreed to represent the lower ranks of the police who are undergoing difficulties. They wished to have a meeting with the new IGP to prepare the background for a better service and also to discuss matters like official quarters and batta of lower ranks.

The cricket wizard Muttiah Muralitharan was also a subject of attention by the group. The group considered Murali as a national asset and an ambassador of inter ethnic goodwill. They denounced the attacks levelled against Murali on a racial and physical level while in England and unanimously decided to come to Murali's rescue whenever needed.

In a surprise development, Douglas Alahapperuma announced that he wishes to resign from the position of spokesman of the group. He appeared to be crestfallen on account of what he considered wrong and misleading news about the group being published in the papers. It was finally agreed to give out any information without reference to him and he consented to remain in the post.

Mr. Ranil Wickrem-esinghe brought up the subject of Dr. Rajitha Senaratne's Matara speech for discussion at the UNP Parliamentary Group meeting. He said that he had collected the background material relevant to the issue and invited Mr. R. A. B. Sirisena M.P. to clarify. Sirisena explained that before Dr. Senaratne was due to speak at Matara, there was a poster containing allegations pasted all over the town. It was distributed in government vehicles and printed by a government minister in Matara.

"No ordinary mortal can remain unprovoked by that poster. "I fully condone Rajitha's reaction", he said.

Dr. Kodituwakku agreed. "If he did not do what he did, whoever put up that poster would never have got it back bellyful."

The word 'Ponnaya' used by Senaratne came from the audience itself, Sirisena remarked. Premaratne said that the chief Sangha Nayaka of Galle Disava had given a good reply. No one had said that references as made by Minister Mangala Samaraweera to certain persons are obscene. But now they are trying to paint this speech as obscene" he said.

Mr. Gunasekara spoke with feeling about comments alleged to have been made by party members themselves which are not in the interests of the party and had been carried in Lake House papers. Mr. Jayawickrama also referred to various statements purported to have been made by different members and requested the parly leader to take corrective action. He also pointed out that attempts are being made to show that there are internal dissensions within the party. "If there are problems they must be thrashed out here. Not outside", he emphasised.

Mr. Gamini Lokuge said that when they are in the opposition they must act as a united opposition. No one should adopt double standards. Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane said that his name also was referred to in a Silumina report and there is a suspicion that it has leaked out from inside itself. These must be looked into.

Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the only person who went to Madhu was Jayalath and he had not talked to the LTTE. Thamil Chelvam had made a statement to the English papers saying that the government had relations with them to survive, but did not keep to its promises. The government must reveal what these promises are.

Rajitha Senaratne's request to allow him to make a statement was deemed unnecessary by Wickremesinghe. He blamed the Media Minister for publicising the matter. The word 'Ponnaya', according to the Harischandra glossary is not an obscene word. It has been used and televised in R. R. Samarakoon's play "Ahasin Vatunu Minissu". Although it is not the policy of the UNP to talk about personal lives of people, the use of credit card for private purposes by the Minister for Media ledt he party to raise the issue in the parliament and some of the statements made by him are really third class.

He also said that statements of Mr. Tyronne Fernando and Mr. Susil Moonesinghe came to his attention. The government is trying to forget the past and work for the future. Although he does not like the imposition of rules and regulations all must act with responsibility. Otherwise rules will be necessary, he emphasised. Mr. Ranawaka pointed out that one should be careful when talking to the state media. Mr. Wickremesinghe accepted it and said that while attacking the government UNP policies must be explained to the people.