Mutiny in SLFP: Sirisena strikes back

by Vishvanath

These are bad days for the Sri Lankan political parties, some of which have suffered crippling splits. No sooner had a group of 13 SLPP MPs opted to sit in the Opposition as an independent group than nine SLFP MPs rebelled against party leader, Maithripala Sirisena. The SLFP secured 14 seats by contesting the 2020 general election as a constituent of the SLPP. The SJB is also expected to lose several more MPs to the government in the coming weeks when the Cabinet is expanded to accommodate crossovers from the Opposition.

The nine dissident SLFP MPs who voted with the government for the interim budget on Friday (02) in violation of their party’s decision to abstain from voting are Duminda Dissanayake, Chamara Sampath Dissanayake, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Amaraweera, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Jagath Pushpakumara, Shantha Bandara and Suren Raghavan. Only SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera and Shan Wijayalal de Silva sided with Sirisena. Amaraweera and Silva are already in the SLPP Cabinet.

On the eve of the budget vote, the SLFP Central Committee (CC) met at the party headquarters to discuss a set of reforms to the party constitution. They were presented by Jayasekera amidst protests. The meeting turned out to be stormy with the dissident MPs opposing the reforms package, which was however endorsed by the CC, where Sirisena loyalists outnumber the rebel MPs and their supporters.

The amendments to the SLFP constitution are widely considered draconian because they enhance the powers of the party leader and the CC immensely. It used to take more than two years, on average, for disciplinary inquiries to be concluded, but the reforms will empower the party leader and the CC to make short work of those who violate party discipline. The dissident SLFP MPs are of the view that Sirisena is planning to oust them. Their fear is not unfounded; the constitutional amendments are now in place, and the SLFP can expel them for being supportive of the government without its consent.    

Sirisena may look pigeon-hearted. He also dillydallies a lot. However, he is anything but timid. There are occasions when he fights back fiercely to safeguard his interests, and never does he hesitate to act out of expediency just like all other Sri Lankans politicians who have scant regard for principles. In his address to the nation after being inaugurated as the President in January 2015, he said he would not seek a second term, implying that he would quit politics after putting the country right and completing his first term. But he launched his re-election campaign, for all practical purposes, a few weeks later, and would have contested the 2019 presidential election if not for the Easter Sunday attacks, which ruined his chances of winning.

In late 2014, when the UNP-led Opposition, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and others fielded Sirisena as the common presidential candidate, they must have thought that he was malleable and they could manipulate him. But he became assertive, and even told UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga where to get off when they tried to dictate terms to him. He also tried to sack Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister in 2018 without success.

The SLFP made do with its constitution for decades, and what has actually prompted Sirisena to change it in a hurry and empower himself to remove office bearers and remove those who step out of line? He feared a move to oust him as the party leader, and chose to launch a preemptive attack. Speculation was rife in political circles that a plot was being hatched to get rid of him.

The SLFP constitution enables the person who is elected as the Executive President to take over the party leadership. That was how Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sirisena came to lead the SLFP. An influential school of thought insists that since Sirisena has ceased to be the President and is no longer attractive to the public, he should be removed and someone else appointed as the party leader. The only way Sirisena could consolidate his power in the SLFP was to change the party constitution to strengthen his position. And, he acted swiftly to ward off the potential threat to his leadership.

Sirisena sought to justify the amendments to the SLFP constitution on the grounds that disciplinary action took a long time, and the party should be able to conclude disciplinary inquiries expeditiously to protest its interests. In his speech at the national convention to mark the 71st Anniversary of the SLFP, in Maharagama, on Friday (02) he said: “Some people consider me a weakling, and even call me a backboneless leader. But I cannot use a firm hand where those who violate party discipline are concerned because of the flaws in the party constitution. They have to be rectified urgently for the sake of the party, and I call upon you to endorse these amendments.”  

Sirisena was careful not to leave anything to chance in having the amendment to the party constitution approved on Friday. He asked those who were for the amendments to raise their hands. A vast majority of those present raised their hands in support of the reforms. Curiously, none of those who had vehemently opposed the reforms and even spoken against them in media interviews voted against them. They just kept quiet, maybe because they did not want to express their opposition to their leader’s move, in public, and Sirisena won the day. With a triumphant smile, he declared that the constitutional amendments had been passed. But trouble is far from over for him. The rift in the SLFP is now permanent. The defection of some SLFP MPs to the government is only a matter of time. Besides, an SLFP Executive Committee member has moved the Colombo District Court against the party reforms, and the case is to be heard again on Sept. 05.  

It is obvious that the dissident SLFP MPs are eyeing ministerial posts in return for their support for President Wickremesinghe and the government. MP Pushpakumara took on the party leadership while speaking in the parliament on Friday. He went out of his way to say that the SLFP leaders who had demanded that the Cabinet ministers be limited to 20 members had increased the number of SLFP Vice Presidents from four to seven and that of Senior Vice Presidents from 10 to 14. He accused the party leadership of duplicity.

SLFP General Secretary Jayasekera made a fiery speech at the convention. He said the SLPP had outlived its purpose and was falling apart. The people had rejected it, he said, urging the SLPP supporters to join the SLFP and help form the next government. But the reality is that the SLPP has not given up the fight; it has won over more than nine SLFP MPs. It seems to be preparing for a counterattack. These vicissitudes are likely to compel the SLFP to coalesce with other anti-government forces. The SLPP dissidents, and the leftist parties have already formed an alliance. The SLFP cannot afford to be left out.