2nd Lead (Adds background)

DLF split on support to Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 September 2005, 02:57 GMT]
Senior member of Democratic Left Front (DLF), Professor Kumar David, Friday dissociated himself from a press release issued by Secretary of DLF, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and party's National Organizer, Quintus Liyanage, that expressed support to Sri Lanka's Presidential candidate Rajapakse in the forthcoming presidential elections.

DLF official release issued Friday said: "Our party has resolved to combine with the Sama Samaja, Communist and Mahajana parties in order to mobilize the Left and progressive forces in support of the Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse with a view to inflict defeat on pro-imperialist reaction represented by Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe.

"We propose that all anti- imperialist and democratic forces belonging to all communities and all religions should come together in order give Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse a resounding victory that is capable of overriding the terms and conditions of the agreements signed by him with other parties, in relation to the National Question," DLF release said.

Professor David rebuked the official DLF position saying the press release "has not one word of criticism of Rajapakse's dangerous and unprincipled liaisons. Hence those of us who do not even accept the necessity of extending critical support to Rajapakse after these alliances were formed, therefore find this Press Release completely unacceptable."

Criticising DLF's statement for embracing Rajapakse's candidacy Professor David said, Mr Rajapakse has capitulated to the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

"A Rajapakse victory, in reality therefore, would signal that the Sinhala Buddhist people have decided to turn their backs on whatever progress had been made since 1994 in resolving ethnic issues and had decided to revert to a chauvinist stance. This is the principal reason why the JHU-JVP-Mahinda coalition should be defeated," Prof David said.

Professor David is currently a fellow at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Sri Lanka in the 1940s had two “left” parties, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (SLCP). Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) was formed in a split from the LSSP in the late 1970s when LSSP faced growing hostility from ordinary workers. Democratic Left Front (DLF) led by Vasudeva Nanayakkara is a breakaway faction of NSSP (1994).

In the 2004 elections, NSSP, DLF and LSSP (Alternate Group), a recent split from LSSP, formed a new alliance called New Left Front (NLF) to "defend peace and democracy."