COLOMBO: The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Sri Lanka's main ruling ally, on Thursday formally withdrew from the 14-month coalition Government, with a "mission to return soon" and with "greater" numbers. The party, however, has kept the door open on a possible return, saying it would depend on the steps taken by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

"We leave with a sense of deep regret of work not fully completed," JVP leader Somawanse Amarasinghe told a press conference here.

The JVP, with 39 MPs, withdrew support to the United Peoples' Freedom Alliance after Ms. Kumaratunga refused to yield to its ultimatum that the proposal to share international assistance for post-tsunami reconstruction of the north and east with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam be withdrawn.

"Regrettably, our earnest request to maintain the integrity of this country had fallen on deaf, autocratic ears," Mr. Amarasinghe said.

Political fallout

On the political consequences of the pullout, he said: "Once we leave the UPFA and sit in the Opposition in Parliament, the hold of the other key partner, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, on the politics of this country will vanish within weeks."

The JVP has withdrawn support to the coalition both at the national and provincial council levels.

"There is no point in staying in this Government, which cannot safeguard the sovereignty and security of this country," Mr. Amarasinghe said.

The JVP was a critical factor in the multi-party combine's victory in the parliamentary elections held last April. However, differences between the two main allies, the SLFP and the JVP, persisted through the last 14 months. Things came to a boil last week when the JVP issued an ultimatum to Ms. Kumaratunga asking her to withdraw the proposed Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) by June 15, failing which the party would pull out of Government.

Mr. Amarasinghe, however, said the party would return to governance if Ms. Kumaratunga agreed to reconsider her plan for P-TOMS, popularly known as joint mechanism.

"Let us wait till we hear from the other side. There can be an understanding between the two parties in the future also. This is not going to be the first and the coalition between the JVP and the SLFP."

The party's pullout marks the second attempt at an SLFP-JVP coalition, the first being a five-week "probationary" government that ended when Ms. Kumaratunga called for parliamentary elections in October 2001.

Criticising the joint mechanism move, Mr. Amarasinghe said: "The LTTE has a warfare machinery, not a welfare machinery."

Pointing to the continued killings by the LTTE, he said the rebel group "is not going to perform miracles when they join the joint mechanism."

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