* Premjayanth confident of taking both provinces
* Govt, JVP divorce will facilitate our victory - Kiriella
* Split no cause for concern - Herath
* SLMC-UNP extends partnership
* CWC goes it alone

UPFA General Secretary Minister Susil Premjayanth yesterday told The Island that the government would convincingly win both provinces. He said the break-up with the JVP wouldn’t cause any worries to the government. "We are absolutely confident of taking both provinces," he said. The recent Eastern Province polls in which the government had done well in Ampara and Trincomalee districts was evidence that the government could afford to drop the JVP.

UNP chief ministerial candidates Major General (retd) Janaka Perera and actor-turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake would not make any difference, he said. The UNP would not have sought Supreme Court intervention to put off polls had it genuinely believed that it could take at least one province, he said. Both the UNP and the JVP unsuccessfully sought the intervention of the Supreme Court to prevent President Mahinda Rajapaksa from calling early elections.

Commenting on the government-TMVP marriage, the minister said it would strengthen the relationship with the breakaway LTTE faction based in the Eastern Province. He said that there were about 9,000 Tamil voters in the Welikanda area. The majority of them would vote for TMVP candidate Mangala Master who had been accommodated on the UPFA’s Polonnaruwa list.

He expressed confidence that the voting would be brisk and heavy. That would be advantageous to the government, he said, adding that they believed a larger turnout would make things easier for the ruling party. He dismissed accusations that the government and its partner the TMVP had been engaged in a systematic terror campaign. There had been incidents including some involving firearms attacks but violence hadn’t been widespread as claimed by the Opposition.

The CWC yesterday expressed confidence that it could easily secure several seats in both councils. Despite being among the coalition partners of the Rajapaksa administration, Minister Arumugam Thondaman had decided to go it alone. Senior party spokesman former MP R. Yogarajan told The Island they hadn’t pledged their support to the government. "We’ll deal with that after the polls," he said, asserting the two major parties may depend on the CWC’s support to secure control of both councils. Yogarajan said there had been four attacks including two serious incidents which he believed were carried out by government supporters.

UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella yesterday told The Island that they would comfortably secure both provinces in a free and fair election. Kiriella, in charge of the campaign in the Polonnaruwa district said the break-up of the government-JVP marriage, too, would contribute to their victory. The JVP contested the previous PC polls on the UPFA ticket. "Make no mistake, the government will find it extremely difficult without the JVP," he said, urging the people to come early to polling stations. Fielding questions, the Kandy MP accused the government of using the TMVP and sizeable group of outsiders brought from other parts of the country, particularly the East to sabotage the election process.

Kiriella said that the government’s attempt to exploit security forces’ success on the battlefield would not succeed. "We, too, are against terrorism. We want the armed forces to succeed," he said. But the people wouldn’t be misled by the President’s claim that a defeat for his government would be detrimental to the entire war effort, he said.

UNP Chief Ministerial candidate Major General (retd) Janaka Perera told The Island that he had repeatedly assured the government and the people his victory would strengthen the ongoing battle against the LTTE. "I look after the NCP, let the President concentrate on the Vanni front," the war veteran said, expressing confidence in taking the province.

JVP frontliner Vijitha Herath urged the police and armed forces to ensure free and fair elections. Claiming that the recent split in the JVP wouldn’t affect their performance, the Gampaha District MP expressed confidence in taking a sizeable vote in both provinces. Responding to our queries, he said the JVP expected to do well in the Anuradhapura District. He said the government would see its folly in going it alone believing the JVP would be immobilised by a section of the parliamentary group walking away.

The breakaway group has not joined the fray.

Herath said the government wouldn’t be able to win this purely on the basis of its battlefield gains. Despite a state managed media campaign directed against the JVP, the Marxist party, he said, would cause a serious embarrassment to the government. He said the JVP wanted the heavy presence of the armed forces, particularly in the NCP where police had shamelessly failed to maintain law and order.

The MP said that the IGP had called a meeting of political parties Friday morning to discuss the security situation, he said. He expressed the belief that people would teach a lesson to politicians who had represented the former NCP administration which he claimed was corrupt. He said so called security meetings were a joke when police shamelessly turned a blind eye to widespread violence and in some instances had even facilitated attacks.