President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government is in a crisis with the JVP vowing to quit the alliance unless the major partner honoured their electoral pact.

The JVP had warned the SLFP that it wouldn’t hesitate to quit as the Marxist party was no longer in a mood to put up with what a party spokesperson termed as unilateral and short-sighted decisions and unprecedented breach of the agreements.

A hastily arranged press conference at the National Library last Wednesday to announce this decision had been put on hold on a request by parliamentary group leader and politburo member Wimal Weerawansa. Well informed sources said party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe had been scheduled to address the press, the first party briefing since the formation of the government nine months ago.

The JVP had been furious with the handling of emergency tsunami relief and the proposed rehabilitation, reconstruction efforts on the basis that the existing mechanisms in place wouldn’t be adequate to meet the gigantic task at hand.

The JVP is also opposed to the LTTE being given a pivotal role in a high powered rehabilitation committee. Addressing a recent party function at Polonnaruwa, Somawansa Amarasinghe emphasised that the LTTE was taking advantage of the crisis triggered by tsunami to secure recognition despite it being among internationally proscribed organisations.

The nine-member politburo led by Amarasinghe, after reviewing the entire range of contentious issues, had decided that the party should go public on the present situation. Politburo members, General Secretary Tilvin Silva, Wimal Weerawansa, Vijitha Herath, Anura Dissanayake, Nandana Gunatilleke, D. Kularatne and K. D. Lalkantha had been vehemently critical of the senior partner of the government. The politburo had recommended to the decision making central committee that they should quit the government unless the SLFP changed its abrasive ways.

Political sources said the central committee had met at the Nugegoda party headquarters last Tuesday to discuss the politburo recommendation at length. Members had accused the SLFP of acting as if this wasn’t a coalition government. They had been particularly critical of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, accusing her of running the administration according to the whims and fancies of a few old friends and associates.

After a marathon meeting, the central committee had unanimously endorsed the politburo’s recommendation to go public on the issues. But on JVP heavyweight Weerawansa’s request, the central committee had deferred their decision to call a press briefing last Wednesday and had decided to make a final bid to restore their relations by obtaining an SLFP commitment to honour their agreement, failing which it will be the parting of ways.

Although some SLFPers, particularly President Kumaratunga are furious with the JVP for its publicly critical stance, many are of the view that the Marxist party’s concerns should be addressed on a priority basis. They have told the SLFP leadership that the JVP wouldn’t hesitate to bring down the government unless the two parties iron out their differences through a dialogue.