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President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe held a two hour long discussion last night (12).

The President is said to have told the PM that he has to now take a decision based on the hopes of the people and the election results. It is learned that the President has asked the PM to take a decision after analysing the situation first.

Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Malik Samarawickrema, Kabir Hashim, Mahinda Amaraweera and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala had also participated in this discussion. After the meeting, the UNP delegation had visited Minister Mangala Samaraweera and held discussions further. Minister Rajitha Senaratne also joined the discussions thereafter.

Will Ranil step down?

Meanwhile the BBC has reported that SLFP MP’s have demanded that PM Ranil Wickramasinghe to step down while the President had confirmed these sentiments of the group.

The BBC quoting a Minister of the government said the President and the PM had held a discussion in this regard last night at the President’s official residence on Paget Road where the President is said to have informed the UNP to appoint a new PM from the party.

According to the BBC the PM had claimed the UNP is not ready to make changes within its party as per the wishes of the SLFP.

The President is also said to have claimed that he will not grant any ministerial posts to SLFP MP’s who join the UNP to form a UNP government.

He had also stressed that the TNA will have to forget about forming a new constitution if they join hands with the UNP to help form its own government.

CAPTION - Calls from within the UNP itself for Sajith or Karu to be made the new UNP party leader

Meanwhile, demands within the party are emerging that Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign from the leadership and appoint Sajith Premadasa or Karu Jayasuriya as the leader.

Karu Jayasuriya replying in response to a question raised by the BBC Sinhala service if a he has been invited to accept the party leadership or to accept the post of Prime Minister, he said no such request has been made of him yet.

The Speaker also requested the media inquire into this with the UNP as he has left party politics after being appointed as the Speaker.

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in an interview with BBC Sinhala Service on Sunday that he will not accept the post of Prime Minister and urged the government to call for a general election as the people has lost confidence in the government as evidenced by the results of local government elections

The President is set to challenge the Joint Opposition by asking them to show a majority in parliament, Presidentś Office sources claim.

President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to take the step due to circulating media reports pushing for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to be appointed as the prime minister following the results of the local government election.

However even if offered Mahinda Rajapaksa is said to have decided to decline the Premiership and instead hopes to call for the parliament to be dissolved and a general election to be held in the near future sources said.

The former President had made these intentions known during a media interview held on Saturday (10).

Meanwhile Sinhala daily ‘Ada’ has reported that Sirisena has agreed to the formation of a lone UNP government.

Sources say the agreement was arrived at during a meeting held between Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickramasinghe last night (11).

Meanwhile, UNP ministers are said to have informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that a United National Party government consisting of the UNP policies should be created immediately.

They had claimed it is impossible to be part of a national government going forward and therefore a lone UNP government should be established. Ministers have told the Prime Minister that this should be a government consisting of the UNP’s political vision and economic policies.

The two parties have the opportunity to create a separate government at any given time since the agreement between the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) for a national government ended on December 31.

SLFP group of Ministers have demanded that PM Ranil Wickramasinghe should resign from the premiership if the national government formed by the UNP and the SLFP are to continue in the same manner going forward. According to sources the group of SLFP ministers of the government has told the President that if the UNP does not agree to this demand they should seek to form an alliance with the JVP to form an wide opposition.

Accordingly the group has suggested that JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake should be appointed as the opposition leader.

Currently there are 41 MP's of the UPFA led by Nimal Siripala De Silva in the parliament while the JVP group of parliamentarians consist of 6 members.

Reason for defeat?

According to sources the SLFP group of MP's have accused PM Wickramasinghe for the recent defeat claiming it is due to his economic policies and the bond scam accusations. The Ministers had made these comments during a meeting held with the President yesterday (11).

Accordingly the have requested the President to remove the PM as a result.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held a special discussion at about 6.30 pm yesterday (11) and it is reported that several important decisions were arrived at during the meeting.

UNP - SLFP government continues

Accordingly, even though a majority of the local councils were won by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, an agreement was reached between Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to continue in the form of a consensus government.

Those who want can leave the government

According to reports while the duo agreed to continue to consensual good governance government, the President is said to have stated that any SLFP MP or Minister who believes that the vote is against good governance can leave the government at any given time.

He is said to have informed that no matter who leaves the government will continue as it is going forward.

100 UNP - SLFP mini-governments

Despite the SLPP winning majority of the local governments taking the total percentage the voter base for good governance remains sources said adding that it has also been determined that voter base for Rajapaksa has reduced since 2015. Accordingly, the UNP and SLFP are now attempting to clinch the power of around 100 local governments on agreement sources said.

It is reported that the internal problems of the government will be discussed through discussion and through a cabinet reshuffle with a consensus expected to be reached within the next few days.

Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said that despite the sincerest of efforts to inject haste and independence into a dilapidated justice system over the last three years and empower the police with the tools they need to successfully investigate complex crimes, murderers and fraudsters remain at large.

He made these remarks by issuing a statement to media today. The Minister admitted that despite his government being the first in the nation’s history to insist that ministers resign from the Cabinet at the first sign of wrongdoing, and indeed the first to investigate allegations of corruption within its ranks with such vigour, justice is yet to be served.

Minister Samaraweera further said that the message from the people has sunk deep into the UNP, and that they are committed to taking drastic measures to fulfil the promises they made three years ago and maintain the public trust.

Full statement by Minister Mangala Samaraweera:

"On the 8th of January 2015, fifty one percent of Sri Lankans voted for the vision put forth to them by our unity candidate Maithripala Sirisena: that the time for dictatorship in our country was over, and that those committed to re-establishing democracy in Sri Lanka must unite to ensure that government serves all of the people, and not a single family and their loyal disciples.

On that day, the United National Party, several stalwarts of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the People’s Liberation Front, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the Tamil National Alliance, the Democratic People’s Front, and all together over 30 political and civic bodies came together to prove that Sri Lankans shared their vision of a Sri Lanka that was ruled by law and not through fear.

We promised to amend the constitution to restore independence to the public service, abolish the executive presidency, and enshrine the rights of all Sri Lankans into the legal bedrock of our legal system. We promised to bring those who robbed the coffers of the treasury to justice. We promised to hold accountable those who quenched their thirst for power with the blood of brave journalists and peaceful protestors. Most of all, we promised you a government that would be free of the rampant corruption that defined the decade that came before us.

Today, the people told us that we have not done enough. Despite the sincerest of efforts to inject haste and independence into a dilapidated justice system over the last three years and empower the police with the tools they need to successfully investigate complex crimes, murderers and fraudsters remain at large. Despite our government being the first in the nation’s history to insist that ministers must resign from the cabinet at the first sign of wrongdoing, and indeed the first to investigate allegations of corruption within its ranks with such vigour, justice is yet to be served.

This message from the people has sunk deep into the UNP, and we are committed to taking drastic measures to fulfil the promises we made three years ago and maintain the public trust. As we embark on this chapter in the story of our democracy, Sri Lanka can be proud of two remarkable things we saw last Saturday.

The first is the conduct of an election under the auspices of an independent elections commission and police service. Never before has a government shied from manipulating public personnel, funds, resources and state media into an organ of their political ends. We hope that under these independent bodies, Sri Lanka has seen the last of corruption, intimidation and violence marring our elections.

Finally, it is evident that the same Mahinda Rajapaksa who in January 2015 commanded 5.77 million votes (47.6%) as his presidency waned, last week was not even able to muster 4.95 million votes or even 44.7% of voters. The UNP has a solemn duty not just to the 46% of the electorate who voted for us and President Sirisena’s SLFP last Saturday, but to the entire resounding majority of our citizens, all 6.1 million of them (55.3%) who marched to the polls last Saturday and voted against a return to Rajapaksa rule. Our duty is to broaden our own voter base by delivering results, while joining hands with all honest and democratic political forces to uplift our motherland and ensure that Sri Lanka never again returns to rule by the sword. That is our calling and we must not fail. Our democracy, our republic, depends on it."

Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest importer of gas, and its Japanese partners will invest USD 300 million to set up Sri Lanka's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Colombo, its CEO Prabhat Singh said.

The Indo-Japanese partnership will set up a 2.6-2.7 million tonnes a year floating LNG receipt facility off the island's western coast, bigger than the previously envisaged 1.5-2 million tonnes a year facility.

Petronet will hold 47.5 per cent stake in the project while Japan's Mitsubishi and Sojitz Corp will take 37.5 per cent stake. The remaining 15 per cent will be held by a Sri Lankan entity, he said.

"We are in the process of signing MoU with the Sri Lankan government for setting up of the LNG terminal," Singh said. "Once the MoU is signed this month, some project related studies will be done before beginning work on the terminal."

Explaining the reasons for setting up a bigger capacity LNG terminal, he said Sri Lanka requires 2.5-3 million tonnes of liquid gas to fire power plants. Besides, there is demand for CNG and smaller industries.

"Commercial details like exact size of the plant and investment will be worked out in the detailed feasibility report to be commissioned after signing of the MoU. Broadly, it would be about USD 300 million investment," he said.

Sri Lankan government had in September last year issued a Letter of Intent to the company to build a floating LNG import facility to supply gas to power plants and the transport sector in the island nation.

The import terminal is to be set up at Kerawalapitiya on the west coast.

Sri Lanka has plans to build a 300-mw gas-fired power plant in Kerawalapitiya adjoining an existing power plant. The existing plant, which uses oil to generate power, will also be converted to LNG once the terminal is set up and gas imports start.

LNG has become significantly cheaper in the last year and many countries have started switching their power plants to LNG.

The LNG terminal, which will import super--cooled natural gas in ships, will take 2-3 years to build, the top executive said.

The terminal in Sri Lanka is part of Petronet's vision to own 30 mt per annum of LNG import and re--gasification capacity by 2020.

The India-Japan collaboration comes after a string of Chinese successes in Sri Lanka. China has managed to revive its flagship USD 1.4-billion Colombo Port City project and is also engaged in expansion of major infrastructure projects it built in the past.

(Economic Times)

Former DIG Vass Gunawardena was sentenced to five years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) by the Colombo High Court today after being found guilty of threatening then Assistant Superintendent of Police, the current Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), SP Shani Abeysekara.

Abeysekara had been threatened during ongoing investigations into the murder of Businessman Mohamed Shiyam in 2013.

Vaas Gunawardena was arrested in June 2013 over the murder of the businessman.

Mohammed Shyam, 35, a businessman involved in the footwear industry residing at Sagara Road in Bambalapitiya was killed on 22 May 2013.

His body was found in Dompe after he was reported missing.

Sri Lanka and Iran signed documents on Saturday (10), to expand cooperation in various fields, including trade and economy, the Sri Lankan government reported.

The documents were signed during a two-day visit of an Iranian delegation to Colombo.

The delegation, headed by the Iranian Energy Ministry official Hamid Reza Tashaoei and Iran’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mohammad Zarei Irani, discussed ways of expanding cooperation with the host officials and reviewed impediments on the way of implementing earlier agreements.

It was reported that the two countries agreed on the need to find executive solutions to accelerate operationalization of the agreements.

A fire has broken out at the official residence of the Iranian Embassy located in Colombo 07. Two fire brigade vehicles of the CMC, have been sent to the location according to Colombo’s fire chief. Currently, there are no further reports of the damage caused or cause of the fire.

Former General Secretary of the UNP, Tissa Attanayake says he is ready to join to party once again to set it on a path of victory in the face of the recent defeat faced by the party at the LG polls.

Attanayake made this comments to isis.lk when asked regarding the reports that he is ready to join the party if he is appointed as its General Secretary once more.

Receiving invitations continuously

Speaking further Attanayake said already several senior members of the party has approached him while the pressure from within the party on him to join the party has increased after the recent set back of the UNP.

Party became limited to Colombo

According to Attanayake, a great distance has been created between the party and the people with the party becoming limited to Colombo in recent times.

He said, therefore, the party needs to move away from its ‘Colombo Only’ mentality and restructure the party completely to avoid a further fiasco.

Those subjected to revenge being ignored an issue!

There are many activists who have been subjected to political vengeance for having been UNPers for decades, but the party has not acted to give any justice to the party after three years Attanayake said.

According to him witnessing how the party treats it supporters new members have been reluctant to join the party.

Party leaders distanced from grass root members

He also said that the party leaders should be close to the grassroots level members but instead many had distanced themselves from the grassroots supporters in the recent past which have led to its downfall.

Tissa - Karu phone conversation

Meanwhile, unofficial sources say a long phone conversation has taken place just a while ago between Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Attanayake.

According to the sources, the defeat of the United National Party and the future steps of the party were discussed during this conversation.

Sources claim the UNP will see drastic changes in the coming days.

Harvesting for the Maha season is in full swing in the Ampara District in areas such as Nintavur, Sammanthurai, Akkaraipattu, Addalaichenai, Vangamem and Irakkamam.

This year saw a bumper harvest of 120-135 bushels of paddy per acre. Many farmers cultivated red rice this season.

The price of one bag of paddy is Rs. 2,500 and is expected to increase. Farmers are happy that their produce can be sold at the guaranteed price. But some rice mill owners are reducing the price as those areas experienced little rain.

Many hectares were brought under paddy cultivation in the Ampara District for the Maha season this year. Farmers want to complete harvesting before the rains begin.

Source : Daily News

Stalwarts of the United National Party are calling for a complete overhaul of the party with Karu Jayasuriya at its helm following the defeat at the recently concluded LG polls sources say.

Reports claim that senior as well as youth leaders of the party are now pushing for a new leadership council among many other suggestions to ensure the party’s future victory.

Sources say a large number of youth leaders have named Ministers such as Malik Samarawickrama and Sagala Ratnayake while asking for their removal claiming that such action is necessary to uplift the party.

General Secretary Kabir Hashim resigns

Following the recent defeat along with the resistance of other party members towards the party leadership and the leadership council, General Secretary of the Party, Kabir Hashim is said to have submitted his resignation from the post to the party leadership.

However, he is said to have included a condition that the resignation can only be valid if other party leaders also resign from their respective positions.

Also, Minister Kabir Hashim is said to have agreed to appoint Karu Jayasuriya as the party's temporary leader sources said.