When President Ranasinghe Premadasa first carried out a Cabinet reshuffle in 1990, he never imagined that this reshuffle would become the beginning of his downfall. Under that reshuffle, he appointed Lalith Athulathmudali, who had been the Minister of Agriculture, as the Minister of Education. Lalith had never been happy as Minister of Agriculture. He served as Minister of Trade and National Security under J.R.’s government and saw this new post as a demotion. Being moved from Agriculture to Education only deepened his resentment. At the same time, during that reshuffle, Gamini, the Minister of Plantation Industries, was removed from the Cabinet.
The 1991 impeachment motion against Premadasa arose as a result of this very Cabinet reshuffle. Lalith and Gamini, whose wings had been clipped through the reshuffle, joined forces and decided to bring an impeachment motion against Premadasa. It marked the beginning of Premadasa’s end.
Under Chandrika’s government, which came to power in 1994, the first Cabinet reshuffle took place in 1997. By then, the most prominent political figure in Chandrika’s Cabinet was Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was the Minister of Labour. Mahinda travelled to Geneva to address the International Labour Conference. On the night before he was scheduled to address the conference, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Geneva visited Mahinda at his hotel.
“You are being removed from the post of Minister of Labour…”
He informed Mahinda. Mahinda became deeply distressed. It was that very day that he decided that Chandrika needed to be taught a lesson. From that point onwards, he began plotting against Chandrika, together with ministers and MPs. In 2001, a powerful group of ministers defected from Chandrika’s government to the opposition, and this was a result of Mahinda’s manoeuvring. However, Mahinda himself did not leave the government. Instead, he met Ranil at the residence of former Parliamentary Secretary-General Sam Wijesinha and cleared the path for Ranil to poach ministers. Chandrika’s government collapsed later in 2001. Although she returned to power in 2004, by 2005 she was compelled to retire from politics. Mahinda rose as the leader.
After Mahinda became President in 2005, he appointed the party’s General Secretary, Maithripala Sirisena, as Minister of Agriculture. Maithri too preferred that portfolio. However, when Mahinda won the presidency for the second time in 2010, he changed Maithri’s portfolio. Mahinda appointed him as Minister of Health. Maithri was not particularly pleased about this.
The first clash between Mahinda and Maithri emerged from this Cabinet reshuffle. Thereafter, during a conflict involving the tobacco company and Maithri, Mahinda, and the Rajapaksa family sided with the tobacco company, further aggravating Maithri’s resentment.
This became one of the main reasons why Maithri agreed to become the common opposition presidential candidate in 2015. Had Mahinda not reshuffled the Cabinet in 2010 and left Maithri as Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda would not have been defeated in 2015, and Maithripala Sirisena would not have become President.
Thus, Sri Lankan presidents have been destroyed by their own Cabinet reshuffles. These reshuffles create enemies within their own governments. In 1990, Premadasa undermined Lalith and Gamini, who were seen as the next potential leaders of the UNP. In 1997, Chandrika undermined Mahinda, who was popular among SLFP members as a successor. In 2010, Mahinda undermined the SLFP General Secretary.
“So then, the other day, did Anura Kumara clip the Leader of the House Bimal’s wings…?”
The story is true. Anura’s sudden Cabinet reshuffle shocked political circles around Colombo.
At that time, Bimal was the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation. When a massive allegation regarding container clearance was levelled against the government, the opposition claimed that Bimal was removed from the Port Ministry because he was linked to the corrupt deal.
Bimal did not respond to this allegation. However, from the beginning, he insisted that he had no authority to release containers. After the Cabinet reshuffle, Bimal disappeared and resurfaced in China. He stayed in China for nearly two weeks. Immediately after Bimal left for China, Prime Minister Harini entered the spotlight.
She made two state visits—to China and India. Having been positioned to clip Bimal’s wings, she stepped forward after his removal and repaired her public image. With Harini taking centre stage, Bimal, who had been the government’s second most prominent figure, was pushed aside.
Before this Cabinet reshuffle, Bimal had told the media that a reshuffle was imminent. However, Minister Haduneththi rejected Bimal’s claim. In the end, the only reshuffle that actually took place was Bimal’s removal from the posts of Minister of Ports and Minister of Civil Aviation.
Before his removal, Bimal had been the government’s chief attacker in Parliament, frequently assaulting the opposition verbally. He never allowed the opposition space to speak. He was known as the government’s shield.
After returning to Sri Lanka from his long overseas stay, Bimal changed his behaviour in Parliament. He became a quiet figure. Recently, the opposition even shouted at the Speaker asking him to give Bimal the microphone to speak.
Earlier, when Bimal rose to speak, the opposition would erupt in anger. That was how much they disliked him. At that time, the opposition’s most popular figure was Harini. The opposition believed there was a rift between Harini and the JVP, and that the conflict might grow until Harini left the government. Harini too remained silent, giving space for such speculation.
But after Anura’s first Cabinet reshuffle, Harini stepped forward confidently, while Bimal fell silent.
Until Premadasa clipped the wings of Lalith and Gamini, the opposition saw those two as villains. After Premadasa’s Cabinet reshuffle, they became heroes of the opposition. Mahinda became a hero of the opposition only after Chandrika clipped his wings. Maithripala too became an opposition hero only after Mahinda and the Rajapaksa family clipped his wings.
The JVP is not the UNP or the SLFP. It is a highly disciplined party. Yet even there, people have broken away—like Wimal, like party leader Somawansa, like Kumar Gunaratnam.
Is Bimal in the same league as Lalith, Mahinda, and Maithri…?”
“It’s hard to say.”
