Ranil hit by lumps of confetti as he launches his presidential campaign

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is heading for a torrid time with his campaign to win the next presidential election, states the Asian Tribune in a report filed by its Colombo correspondent yesterday.

The report: "Last week he [Wickremesinghe] opened his presidential campaign (no one is quite sure as to when it will be held) with his friends in the media casting doubts about his capacity to win the race.

The business community too blasted him for not lending his support for the Joint Mechanism formula to deliver aid to the tsunami victims in the north and the east.

Today [May 16] he will be launching a book at the Gangaramaya Temple to prove that he is as good a Buddhist as the monk of the temple. He has been portrayed as a political Buddhist who woos the monks and the Buddhist community only to win votes.

His alliances with the LTTE and the strengthening of its military capability when he was Prime Minister have undermined his credibility as a reliable leader to head the nation at this critical time.

Last week the Joint Business Forum was extremely critical of Wickremesinghe's rejection of the President's invitation to participate in exploring the controversial Joint Mechanism (JM) as a means of delivering aid to the northern and eastern provinces.

The JBIZ consists of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, the Employer's Federation of Ceylon, the Exporters Association of Sri Lanka, National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka, International Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Bankers Association.

JBIZ said that it would not oppose a mechanism that would not damage the sovereignty of the nation. In a tit-for-tat response to JBIZ statement the UNP headquarters yesterday said: "It seems the JBIZ has been hi-jacked by a group of self-serving businessmen who no longer command the confidence of the majority of the private sector."

Diplomatic and other political parties too were disappointed with Wickremesinghe playing politics with this sensitive and critical issue. He is seen as a lame-duck figure who cannot make up his mind, or take firm decisions. The Sunday Times (May 15, 2005) painted him as a guy who plays the waiting game - he will wait for the government to stew in its own juice. After they mess up he will step in as if by default.''

Most UNP insiders agree with this assessment of their leader. He is seen as a 'committee man - i.e. a man who appoints a committee to postpone issues hoping they would go away after it hits the headlines. One insider said that the amount of committees he has appointed so many committees that he had lost count of it.

Even the party loyalists are not certain that he is the kind of leader who can guide them to victory. He has lost 12 elections in a row and he narrowly scraped through once to be the Prime Minister for a short time.

He has been out-maneuvered by President Kumaratunga at every critical turn, including the last time he was Prime Minister. After putting up a weak resistance he was dismissed by the President who took over his powers and the government." (Courtesy: Asiantribune.com)