During the 2005 presidential election, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the opposition leader and U.N.P. presidential candidate, frequently sent letters to Mahinda. His primary condition was that an independent media organization should host and broadcast any debates. Ranil publicly stated that he was unwilling to participate in National Television and Independent Television debates, which he described as government propaganda outlets.
National Television and Independent Television have been government propaganda tools since their inception, a situation that remains unchanged today. Upon becoming president, Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed his close associate, Sudarshan Gunawardena, as the chairman of the Independent Television Network. During the 2015-2019 government period, Ranil also appointed Gunawardena as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and later as the Director of the Government Information Department. After Ranil stepped down as Prime Minister, Gunawardena joined the U.N.P. and continued his involvement in media activities.
Why, then, did Anura invite Sajith for a debate on Independent Television, which has become Ranil’s propaganda channel, with one of Ranil’s closest allies as its chairman? Media outlets like Derana, Hiru, and Sirasa expressed their willingness to broadcast the Sajith-Anura debate, but Anura did not respond to any of these offers. Instead, Anura chose to debate on Ranil’s uncle’s newspaper, the Daily Mirror, and Ranil’s government channel, Independent Television. Both the Daily Mirror and Independent Television are known for attacking Sajith and the Samagi Jana Balavega (SJB). Sajith and the SJB have accused these media organizations of promoting Ranil’s image and working for his victory in the presidential election. Consequently, Sajith announced that he would boycott the Daily Mirror for distorting his stories.
Despite that, by choosing Ranil’s newspaper and Ranil’s channel, Anura ignored Sirasa, Siyatha, Swarnavahini, Derana, Hiru, which exposes the deal between Ranil and Anura.
Ranil never appeared on Independent Television or National Television, even during his secret dealings with Mahinda. He feared that party members would perceive Mahinda as aiding him if he appeared on these channels.
JVP leader Anura failed to grasp this political theory, which even a political novice would understand. The script for this drama was crafted with Ranil, who participated in the ITN debate. Anura challenged Sajith to join the ITN debate, effectively seeking refuge in Ranil’s territory. No opposition leader in Sri Lanka—whether Mrs. Bandaranaike, Chandrika, Gamini, Ranil, Mahinda, or Sajith—has ever engaged with government media. This is because the government allows only those politicians who support it to feature in its media.
JVP social media began expressing doubts about a potential deal between Anura and Ranil through Independent Television when Ranil offered the position of President’s Attorney to Upul Kumarapperuma, a prominent activist of the National People’s Force. Upul, who acts in teledramas aired on Sudarshan’s Independent Television, has close ties with Sudarshan Gunawardena. Gunawardena was pleased when the Presidential Secretariat included Upul’s name in the list of candidates for the post of President’s Attorney.
Looking back now, Ranil’s disciples and Anura’s disciples are working together. Anura wants Ranil to win if he can’t win. Ranil wants Anura to win if he can’t win. The enemy of both of them is Sajith Premadasa.
Sudharman Radaliyagoda was moderating the debate organized by independent television as agreed by Anura. Sudharman Radaliyagoda is a staunch Rajapaksaist who contested election from Mahinda’s party.
The three-cornered story of the debate is now very clear. Ranil’s uncle’s Daily Mirror newspaper or Ranil’s government’s ITN inviting Sajith to the channel and using Mahinda’s ally, Sudharman, to tarnish Sajith is part of the Anura-Ranil-Rajapaksa deal. Anura and the Rajapaksas are not strangers; Anura supported Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2005 presidential election. Additionally, Anura has a history of working closely with Ranil during the 2010 and 2015 presidential elections, and he was involved with the anti-corruption committee of the Maithri-Ranil government that won in 2015.
Anura’s problem is Sajith. It is more of a problem for Ranil than for Anura. Anura intervenes to let Ranil finish the matter. If you look at the JVP official websites these days, Samagi Jana Balavega General Secretary Ranjith Maddumabandara is with Ranil. The JVP website is giving the biggest publicity to the news sent by the Presidential Media Unit that the Samagi Jana Balavega split and dozens of MPs are going to join Ranil. It is Anura’s dream to destroy the Samagi Jana Balavega and send the members of the Samagi Jana Balavega to Ranil’s feet. That dream can be seen clearly when looking at JVP websites and JVP social media.
It was none other than Ranil who brought Anura to number one in the opinion polls. When the Samagi Jana Balavegaya scares them by saying that ‘JVP is coming, JVP is coming’, Ranil says everywhere that the Samagi Jana Balavegaya and the UNP should unite and nominate him as a candidate to face the JVP. Ranil is inflating the JVP. Ranil is blown away by Anura. Both of them want to get rid of Sajith. Rajapaksa wants that too.
Anura must be thinking that if Ranil wins, he can become the leader of the opposition if Samagi Jana Balawegaya and UNP come together to destroy Sajith.
Ranil thinks that if he is unable to break the Samagi Jana Balavega and his candidacy is at risk, if he defeats Sajith and Anura wins, he can destroy the Samagi Jana Balavega and destroy Sajith and become the leader of the opposition again.
Ranil and Anura were both involved in the same film during the 2015 presidential election. Ranil supported Maithripala’s candidacy, knowing he wouldn’t win alone. Anura didn’t field a candidate but instead travelled the country criticizing Rajapaksa. Their efforts were aimed at making Maithri president and Ranil prime minister. Anura anticipated that once Maithri won, he would take leadership of the SLFP and appoint Ranil as prime minister with SLFP support, allowing Anura to seize control of the opposition. However, this plan did not succeed. Anura, like Ranil, is a strategist looking to broker deals to gain control of both the government and the opposition. The I.T.N. Debate is part of this strategy. It remains to be seen if the deal will fail this time, as it did in 2015.
