Several members of Independent Group III, which won control of the Colombo Municipal Council earlier this month, are reportedly being kept "at a safe location" by the United National Party till they take oaths on June 3.

Among the "missing" Independent Group members are leader Annapillai Rajendran, mayor elect U Imtiyaz, and deputy mayor elect Kankanamage Chandrasena.

"We are also trying to find them," said Ratnam, a member of Independent Group III, who contested the election. "They have been missing for the past two days." He said that both of Rajendran’s mobile phones have been switched off and that neither he nor his family were at home.

"We even visited his house," he said. "It is closed. We think his family must be with him." Rajendran had been receiving "unwelcome phone calls", Ratnam also said.

Asked how Rajendran could be contacted, UNP mayoral candidate Sirisena Cooray claimed that the Independent Group leader had a new mobile number which he did not know. Rajendran’s telephones were switched off when this newspaper attempted to contact him.

Meanwhile, UPFA mayoral candidate Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that his party wanted to back Independent Group III. "Tell them that I intend backing them and liberating them from any bondage they may have," he said.

Ratnam said that all but nine of Independent Group III’s fifty-nine contestants have agreed to submit their resignations from the CMC. However, the law decrees that all contestants in the list must step down before the UNP can replace any of them.

"The nine dissidents are not willing to resign," Ratnam confirmed. "They are backing the UPFA. They have a problem with Rajendran and have formed a different faction with their own leader."

Independent Group III, supported by the UNP, polled 40.24% of the vote in the May 20 election and won 23 seats. The UPFA notched 27.85 per cent and won 14 seats.

The election was preceded — and followed — by a legal and political wrangle which threatens to drive the Colombo Municipal Council into further difficulty with neither the UNP nor the UPFA showing any signs of bowing out.

The names of the new CMC members are due to be gazetted on June 2 and the swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for the next day. The Independent Group III members are thereafter expected to resign from their new posts, making way for UNP replacements. Nanayakkara has already questioned the legality of this arrangement.

Meanwhile, the internal debate in the UNP also continues to rage. Central Committee Member and party stalwart Milroy Perera yesterday submitted to leader Ranil Wickremesinghe a report about the alleged "conspiracy" surrounding the UNP’s rejected CMC nominations list. Similar reports had been submitted before and had implicated party members Milinda Moragoda and M Maharoof in a suspected plot to have the UNP list rejected. The two members are believed to have wilfully included the name of an under-aged candidate in the list, thereby making the entire application invalid.

On Monday, five UNP front liners held a near three-hour meeting with Wickremesinghe, insisting that the leadership take action against Moragoda and Maharoof. Among those who met Wickremesinghe were G. L. Peiris, M. H. Mohamed, Ravi Karunanayake, T. Maheswaran and Bandula Gunawardene. The tone of the meeting had reportedly been "heated" with specific questions asked about why the leadership continued to "favour" Maharoof and Moragoda.

A senior UNPer said the five members had told Wickremesinghe that they could not let the party be ruined by "these type of people". Asked whether he felt disciplinary action would be taken, he said: "We expect it to happen."