"Harin has showed that positions do not matter but what is importent is the Party"

By La­hiru Poth­mul­la
Uni­ted Na­tion­al Par­ty (UNP) MP Ru­wan Wi­je­war­dene said yes­ter­day he had de­ci­ded to re­sign from his post of UNP Na­tion­al Youth Front (NYF) Chair­man to make way for Har­in Fer­nan­do.

Mr. Wijewardene said Mr. Fer­nan­do had sac­ri­ficed his par­lia­men­ta­ry mem­ber­ship for the UNP to con­test the elec­tions for the Uva Pro­vin­cial Coun­cil.
“He has proved that po­si­tions are of no val­ue when it comes to the well­be­ing of the par­ty.

 There­fore, I made this de­ci­sion to re­sign as Chair­man of the NYF and give to Har­in the praise he de­serves.
No mat­ter what the Gov­ern­ment says, the UNP is the re­al win­ner at the elec­tions and Har­in’s sac­ri­fice is the main rea­son for the vic­to­ry,” Mr. Wi­je­war­dene told a news con­fer­ence.

" I am a de­scend­ent of a gen­er­a­tion of great pol­i­ti­cians and I’m ready to sac­ri­fice any­thing for the UNP"

 He said he would con­vey his de­ci­sion to Par­ty Na­tion­al Lead­er Ra­nil Wick­re­me­singhe and Lead­er­ship Coun­cil Chair­man Karu Jaya­sur­iya and said this matter would be tak­en up at the Work­ing Com­mit­tee meet­ing held yes­ter­day or at its next meet­ing. Mr. Wi­je­war­dene said there was no need to cling to po­si­tions and nei­ther had he asked for any posts.

“I am a de­scend­ent of a gen­er­a­tion of great pol­i­ti­cians and I’m ready to sac­ri­fice any­thing for the UNP,” he said and add­ed that he ho­ped Mr. Fer­nan­do, who is cur­rent­ly NYF Na­tion­al Or­gan­is­er would ac­cept the pro­pos­al.

Mr. Wi­je­war­dene said Mr. Fer­nan­do even de­served to be a mem­ber of the Lead­er­ship Coun­cil.
He said the NYF had al­ready made ar­range­ments to strength­en the coun­try­wide youth com­mun­i­ty and would pro­vid­e them with op­por­tu­ni­ties to de­vel­op them­selves.

"He has proved that po­si­tions are of no val­ue when it comes to the well­be­ing of the par­ty.  There­fore, I made this de­ci­sion to re­sign as Chair­man of the NYF and give to Har­in the praise he de­serves. "

“Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans like Tis­sa At­ta­nayake and Aki­la Vir­aj Kar­iya­wa­sam are the fruit­ful prod­ucts of the NYF,” Mr. Wi­je­war­dene said.  
Com­ment­ing on the new ap­point­ments in the UNP, he said Sa­jith Pre­ma­da­sa’s ap­point­ment as Depu­ty Lead­er of the par­ty was a huge in­vest­ment.
“The par­ty will car­ry out sev­er­al re­forms so as to bring about par­ty uni­ty. I’m sure we will all be able to over­come our dif­fer­en­ces and re­solve our con­cerns.
Some may have been up­set over the new ap­point­ments but these mat­ters can be sor­ted out and what fi­nal­ly mat­ters is to do the best for the par­ty,” he said.
Mr. Wi­je­war­dene said the par­ty had tak­en a new turn to­day with the up­swing at the Uva elec­tions and it was ready to win any up­com­ing elec­tion.  
Mean­while UNP MP Eran Wick­re­mer­atne said the sac­ri­fi­ces made by Mr. Wi­je­war­dene and Mr. Fer­nan­do had set up a new cul­ture in the par­ty and proved that a per­son does not need posts to do pol­i­tics.

 “Ru­wan and Har­in have showed that par­ty comes first and not po­si­tions,” he said add­ing that Mr. Wi­je­war­dene could not be sep­a­ra­ted from pol­i­tics or the UNP be­cause he comes from emi­nent po­lit­i­cal fam­i­lies -- D.S. Sen­a­nayke and D.R. Wi­je­war­dene.
UNP MP Ajith P. Per­era said Mr. Wi­je­war­dene’s de­ci­sion came as a sur­prise but had set a good ex­am­ple to be emu­la­ted.