DAYASIRI’S DENGUE FEVER

“My phone was switched off because I got Dengue”

I swear that I didn’t meet the President

-  says Dayasiri

Recent gossip in the political arena was that the story of the Member of Parliament Dayasiri who was said to be making plans to join the government.
When several media had tried calling him to get to know the real story, his phone was switched off. In between, we heard that he had tried to introduce new regulations to the UNP. At the same time, Sajith Premadasa had mentioned a story about the “frogs in the party” as Dayasiri had said to be leaving the party.
At the same time there had been many rumours of Dayasiri meeting the Venerable Asgiri MalwathuThera and it was reported that he was advised not to leave the Opposition. Other rumors state that he is about to go and join S.F.  However, a media person who has met Dayasiri with the greatest difficulty had been told that he had been suffering from dengue and thus his phone had been switched off.
The interview given to Sunday’s ‘Rivira’ newspaper is as below:

Question: Usually your phone is always on but during the past few days it was switched off most of the time. Why was that?

Answer: It’s that, I was suffering from dengue during the past few days. So, my phone was switched off and that’s all.

Question: How is your health condition now?

Answer: The doctors have asked to rest for few weeks. I am resting these days and that’s why my phone is switched off.

Question: there were rumours about you saying that you are planning to change your party. What do you have to say about those rumours?

Answer: Those rumours have been created with the help of some people in our party as a conspiracy against me. A media person who is said to be a friend of the party leadership has first created this rumour. That news stated that a UNP member who is also a good singer had met the President last Saturday. That’s a raw lie. Later on this rumour became news. Some of the members of our party who are very close to the leader had called many television channels and asked them to give more publicity to this news. I don’t want to reveal their names but I would definitely bring this out in our party meeting. We should not allow them to destroy our names like this. This is a conspiracy created just inside the party.

Question: But… don’t you think that there won’t be smoke without a fire?

Answer: I didn’t meet the President on a Saturday as it is been said in rumours.

Question: Then, when did you last meet the President?

Answer: He came to the parliament about two weeks ago. I too had the chance of meeting him on the second floor as many others do but I didn’t. That is the problem I too have. And on the other hand, if I really wanted to meet him, there is no need for me to go to Temple Trees. If I had wanted to meet him, I had several other opportunities to meet him.

Question:  You are saying that there is group from your own party behind this conspiracy. Why do they want to destroy like this?

Answer: A project is being worked out in this party to destroy party leaders. The party is not allowing new leaders to be born inside the party. The leaders who are very insecure of their leaderships try to destroy new leaders who are being groomed to the party. This is only one unit in their project. Many such leaders were chased away like that. When they introduce us like the agents of the government, their task becomes very easy. But the true agents of the government are the people who are trying to send us away.

Question: Earlier also you have said that you haven’t yet decided whether you should go join the government. So what’s your status now?

Answer: No, it’s like this; there are problems within the party. I have addressed these to both Ranil Wickremasinghe and Sajith Premadasa. We have worked hard bring victory to the party. We weren’t people who have played double games. I never kept my steps on both ends.
 I haven’t gone to meet the President and other ministers to make other deals. I have worked so hard to bring victory to our party. We have been in a long struggle. During the course of that struggle, a number of members of our party left us and joined the government. Yet the new members helped us to lead the party. As a result of it, a new constitution was created. We held our party meeting and seconded that constitution. At a time, when an election had been called on, that constitution was cancelled all of a sudden. That was done without getting anyone’s vote on it. A person like Thilak Marapana, who hasn’t done anything towards the party, dragged this party back to 1995 to the Kataragama conference.

Question: on the day, when this decision was made, only Ajith Perera and Malik Samarawickrema had shown their disapproval. There were some others who wanted to take the party back to its rail. Have those left in their attempt?

Answer: It s very strange to me as well. Anyways I would like to thank Malik Samarawickrema and Ajith Perera for making that attempt. I am very disappointed about the others.

Question: It seems that some people who worked with Sajith Premadasa seems be confused about him. What do you think about his present role?

Answer: It’s like this, If we are on a marathon, we should be prepared to run. But if one decides to run a marathon and thinks only about 100 meters, then that’s madness.  When one decides to do that either the other members will drop out or either that at least one will drop out. If the decision was to run a marathon, why on earth did they run only 100 meters?

Question: Is Dayasiri in such a hurry?
Answer: I am not in such a hurry. I don’t have a thirsty to get the leadership. With whatever queries we have, I see Sajith as an asset which we can sell. When we look at it, as the Deputy in our party, we will have to and we can actually go a long way with him.  He has to decide whether he is going to run 100 meters or the marathon. If he too decides to drop out while running marathon and to get back to 100 meters, the members who are left out too will drop out from the party and same will happen to him. That’s what has happened now.

Question: You and a group showed up for the party’s reconstruction. Does that group still exist or is it over?
Answer: I think that unity has been broken. Yet I believe that ideology is still in the hearts of the members.

Question: when rumours about you joining the party spread around, how did your supporters react?
Answer: Many people spoke to us. All of them told me not to join the government. Many told that the future is in my hand. Some had tried to take poison and some have tried to burn themselves after hearing that. So many people forced me like that. If not for those people, I would have taken a decision because I too suffer a lot. Decisions that are taken unfairly will take the party into more trouble. These people are taking decisions in such a way that would allow the government to be in power for another 15 years. I am very worried about that. I never had a personal agenda in politics. My only agenda was to bring victory to UNP. thus, as a person who lives with dignity, I cannot leave the party. I can’t leave one hundred thousand and thirty two thousand who voted me at the last election. Therefore, I will stay in the party.

Question: We heard that even the supporters of Ranil Wickremasinghe had forced you not to take such a decision. Doesn’t that mean that even Ranil Wickremasinghe does not want you to leave the party?

 Answer: I don’t know the stand of Ranil Wickremasinghe, but his members like Malik Samarawickrama and Sagara Ratnayake had a long discussion with me. I asked them to  dance to the game their playing. I explained to them that we are dancing with the lives of the innocent people. UNP supporters are waiting for a UNP government since a long time back. These people are not doing anything to reach that goal. They are just playing media politics and they are not trying to open a new chapter in politics. Look at the Z-Score problem. Today the students have voluntarily stepped onto the roads. As the opposition, what have we done about it? We have just held a press conference.

Question: Did Ranil Wickremasinghe speak to you after this rumour was spread?

Answer: No, he didn’t, but Sajith Premadasa, Karu Jayasuirya and a majority of our party members spoke to me. All of them thanked me.

Question: What kind of reactions did you get from the government? Did they invite you to join them?

Answer: I had such invitations every day.

Question: The government bus is now full. If you too join them, you will have to stay on its hood; do you think that you will have a role if you ever join the government?

Answer: I don’t believe that there’s any role for us in this government. But, when there are such a lot of problems in the country, the UNP has not been able to address any of them. It is such a tragedy.

Question: At such a situation, is it worth to work for UNP?

Answer: It is said that even God Vishnu had to undergo a bad period. Thus, we will have to tolerate these things for some time. We have come to a state where we cannot leave the people behind and just walk away.

Question: How long are you going to wait like this?

Answer: I’m ready to wait as long as it requires. I don’t think that I will ever be in a position to leave the party.

Question: We heard that you have asked Malik Samarawickrama to withdraw the proposal brought forward to appoint Ranil Wickremasinghe for another 6 years. What will you do if you don’t get a positive feedback?

Answer: Will see as to what will happen. I will fight as long as I can. How much ever disciplinary actions they take, I will not stop telling the people how they ruined the party.

Question: Don’t you think that people will say that you are on a contract given by the Rajapakse government?

Answer: No, the ones who are working for the Rajapakse government are the people like that. What we are doing is to explain that to the people. There are some people who have direct connections with the President. Some have connections with Basil Rajapakse, some work with Namal Rajapakse. While they work with MR, GR, BR and NR, we do PR for our party.

Question: Does that mean that you will hit Ranil in the future?

Answer: I don’t know how things will happen. Somehow, I will reveal the program which supports Mahinda Rajapakse. 

Question: Your name was there among the UNP members who highly criticized the government. I will continue to do that?

Answer: I won’t just let it go. I will continue what I was doing so far.

Question: Tell us finally, will you join the government?

Answer:  No, never. I will stay in my party.

Question: Many, who said the same thing like you do, joined the government. How are different from them?

 Answer: since I am still here, I am different from them.

Question: I am not talking about today, what about the future?

Answer: It’s like this, if I really want to leave, I leave in spite of the people who burn or kill themselves. But, if I do, I will tell everyone and then leave. I will different from others because I won’t just run, but I will inform everyone about my decision and the reasons for it.

Discussion by Chamara Lakshan Kumara

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