Chandrika makes first big step to topple govt

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party was making its first major step towards toppling the cohabitation government by forming an alliance with Marxists, party officials said Sunday.

Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA), which is the main opposition in the 225-member legislature, will ratify a deal with the JVP, or People's Liberation Front, on Tuesday, they said.

"This is a first step towards increasing the numbers in parliament and then moving towards winning defections from the government side to form a government without facing elections," a top party source said.

He said a memorandum of understanding between the PA and the JVP, drafted in Sinhalese, set out agreements on economic policy, the ongoing peace process and the political aspects of power sharing between them.

JVP spokesman Wimal Weerawansa, who is also a member of parliament, declined to give details of the deal with the president, but said last week that the plan included measures to "revive and rebuild the nation."

"The talks have been very satisfactory and we have made progress. We will announce the details later," he said.

The opposition has been talking about an alliance between Kumaratunga's party and the JVP for six months after the two opened unity talks in a bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe, whose rival United National Party (UNP) won parliamentary elections in December 2001, has been locked in a tense stand-off with Kumaratunga.

The prime minister refuses to recognise the president's take over of the Development Lottery Board which is under the Economic Reforms Ministry, but Kumaratunga argues her move was constitutionally valid.

However, opposition sources said their move would initially be made through parliament, where the prime minister currently has only a slender two-seat majority.

The JVP has 16 seats in parliament and with Kumaratunga's party's share, they would collectively move up to 93 seats -- still 20 short to have a working majority in the assembly.