Range Bandara Plan Backfires: President’s Strategy Criticized
President’s Effort to Secure ’25 SJB Crossovers’ for Basil Ends in Failure
Gotabaya to Succeed Sarath Amunugama!
Mahinda’s Secret Announcement Expected on the 17th
Can Rajitha Lead the Anticipated Breakaway from SJB?
Extension of AG’s Service Sparks Election Strategy Speculation
Range’s ‘feeler’
UNP General Secretary Range Bandara’s recent statement to the media sparked significant controversy last week. Bandara suggested that the President should be allowed to govern the country by postponing the Presidential and General Elections for two years. He mentioned that the President is even prepared to hold a referendum if necessary. Bandara stated, “If all groups cannot unite for five years, then the President’s term should be extended by two years. Additionally, we propose extending the term of Parliament by another two years instead of holding elections now. We insist that all party members and the opposition should come together for this. If needed, we demand that this be confirmed more democratically and practically by passing it in Parliament and holding a referendum.”
This statement drew protests from all opposition parties, regardless of affiliation. Additionally, within the UNP, Sabaragamuwa Governor Navin Dissanayake and Deputy Leader Ravi Karunanayake opposed Bandara’s proposal.
Chung meets the commission
After Range’s statement, Mrs Julie Chang, the American ambassador to Sri Lanka, personally met the members of the Election Commission recently and exchanged views with the members of the Commission regarding the conduct of the presidential election. The commission members had informed the American ambassador that the election commission had now completed all the planning to hold the presidential election as scheduled.
However, many view Range Bandara’s remarks about holding a referendum as impulsive and whimsical, yet they also believe the statement was made with the President’s knowledge. This sentiment was emphasized in recent media meetings. Reports have indicated that this suspicion has intensified due to a specific proposal the President had already submitted to the Legislative Assembly. According to the media, the President proposed extending the term of the current Attorney General, Sanjay Rajaratnam, for another six months, as his term is set to end next month
How the story came out
First of all, it is important to determine whether Range Bandara’s statement was impulsive or part of a planned strategy. Range has gained a reputation for making statements that many consider frivolous, leading some to dismiss his recent comments as another one of his jokes. For instance, in previous press conferences, Range claimed that 30 to 40 MPs from the opposition would join the UNP and that many opposition MPs would appear on the UNP platform on May Day. He also asserted that Harsha, Kabir, and Eran were going to join the UNP. Since none of these predictions came true, many people are now sceptical and believe that Range’s latest statement might also be a kind of joke.
However, since many people suggested there was more behind Range Bandara’s statement, we investigated the matter. Our findings revealed that this statement was not made impulsively but was, in fact, well-planned. It is believed to be a speech crafted according to the ‘Confuse Theory,’ a strategy familiar to the UNP, aimed at creating chaos in the country.
‘Confusing’ theory
According to information received by the opposition, this topic was recently discussed during a high-level party meeting chaired by the President. One of the main points of discussion was how to disrupt the opposition’s political plans and ‘confuse’ the public. Many proposals were put forward, including the idea of holding a referendum. One of our sources indicated that Range Bandara agreed to present this proposal to the media.
By this, it becomes evident how the UNP has been employing the ‘Confuse Theory’ by making various statements aimed at disrupting the current political landscape. A prominent example is the recurring news that 30 to 40 MPs from the SJB would join the UNP. The government has periodically circulated this news over the past two years, causing political upheaval each time, much like fish stirring when the bait is thrown into the water. This tactic demonstrated the effectiveness of the UNP’s Confuse Theory initially.
However, as the saying goes, “Everything goes wrong when it goes wrong,” this strategy eventually backfired on the UNP. Opposition party leaders claimed that Range Bandara’s statement exposed the UNP’s desperation, suggesting that the party resorted to such tactics out of fear of losing both the presidential and general elections. They argued that this move highlighted the UNP’s acknowledgement of its diminishing prospects, thus confirming the party’s decline.
Attorney General’s service extension?
However, the other problem here is that this statement was issued by the UNP in conjunction with the President’s proposal that Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam should be given a 6-month service extension. Sanjay Rajaratnam is a person who played a big role behind the scenes in appointing Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe as the Acting President when Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa was facing a serious political crisis. Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam was among the people like Tiran Alas and Shavendra Silva who brought suggestions that Ranil should be appointed as the Acting President while Gota was safe in the Modara military camp when the struggle was at its peak. Mr. Sanjay Rajaratnam gave the necessary legal advice for that. We also took steps to report this in the ‘inside politics’ column during that time.
A referendum proposal came from the side of the government which followed a proposal from the President to give the Attorney General a 6-month of service extension, many in the legal fraternity could smell some doubts on this. Accordingly, several lawyers called the opposition leader Mr. Sajith Premadasa and said that there was no tradition of extending service to Attorney Generals before and that if this proposal is presented in the Legislative Assembly, a strict decision should be taken in this regard. When the Leader of the Opposition pointed out that they cannot oppose every proposal in the Legislative Assembly and that they should present reasons for it, they said that during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, legal action was taken against the move to give this type of service extension to the former Attorney General and Mahinda withdrew the proposal.
Apart from this, the retired officers of the Attorney General’s Department also spoke to Sajith and said that this is not a good precedent and that this has never happened before. They also pointed out several reasons to Sajith. Later, Sajith instructed a group of SJB lawyers to look into this matter and took steps to investigate the case reports of all the incidents involving the former Attorney Generals.
Diana’s news?
In the midst of all this, one of the lawyers drew Sajith’s attention to a story that had been published last week in the Sunday Times newspaper belonging to the President’s family without a name or village. The news said that the Attorney General has given instructions to investigate the possibility of prosecuting Diana Gamage under the Criminal Procedure Code, who lost her position as a Member of Parliament due to her British citizenship. This lawyer had informed Sajith that there may be an attempt to take legal action regarding the legality of SJB by filing a criminal case against Diana, as this kind of news is usually published with the knowledge of the highest places of the government. But after Diana’s verdict, Sajith had called a team of party’s top lawyers to consult whether the verdict would affect the party, and they had informed Sajith that Diana’s verdict would not affect SJB.
Chandima’s problem
However, when the Attorney General’s service extension proposal surfaced to the fore during a speech, Mr Chandima Veerakkodi, a Member of Parliament and a lawyer, disclosed information regarding several serious issues that may arise in the future if this proposal is implemented. Chandima’s story was:
The Attorney General is a person who has a lot of powers according to the Constitution and has a lot of responsibility. No bill passed by the Parliament can become a law without the approval of the Attorney General of the country. If someone challenges the constitutionality of an Act, the Attorney General represents the government. The decision to charge anyone with a crime is made by the Attorney General. The Attorney General of the country has the power to issue a directive to prosecute to the police. If a case is filed under the Election Act, the Attorney General has the authority to deal with it.
Mr Sanjay Rajaratnam, who currently holds the position of Attorney General, is an honourable person. But the President has requested the Legislative Council to extend the term of office of the Attorney General by 6 months to tarnish this honour. Mrs Ayesha Jinasena is eligible for the post after the current Attorney General retires in June.
But if the current Attorney General is given an extension of service, he can serve as Attorney General until December. The present Chief Justice is scheduled to retire in October. According to tradition, the Attorney General can be appointed as the Chief Justice based on seniority. The question arises whether the government and the president are dressing up in a casual way to influence the country’s judiciary.
The presidential election will be held within the time limit for extending service to the Attorney General. The person who is going to be a presidential candidate in another 6 weeks is asking for an extension of service to the Attorney General. If there is an election complaint against him, the current Attorney General, who is getting an extension of service, will have to decide on that.
The President is trying to fulfil his political ambitions by breaching all the laws and democracy in the country and throwing the country into chaos. The people of the country should not allow such activities. Members of Parliament and the President are not people who are accepted by the people. Therefore, a presidential election and a parliamentary election must be held. Accordingly, it is not possible to hold an election. Until a new parliament is elected, the current parliament cannot make decisions for the people.
Also, no matter what the people who rejected the people say, the MPs elected by the people cannot agree with what they say. Also, the government can take arbitrary decisions in the parliament for another 3 months. After that, we are ready to implement the right things in the country and lead the country to the right path through a united people-power government under the leadership of Mr. Sajith Premadasa. Also, if something happens that harms the country’s democracy, the United People’s Force will go to the Supreme Court.’
However, the Legislative Assembly is scheduled to meet next week to decide on the Attorney General’s service extension proposal.
Meanwhile, a high level meeting of the UNP met again last week after the controversial statement made by Range. There is news in the that the President has put up a wall for Range based on some other issue rather than the referendum speech. In that discussion, a proposal was made that the party should correct the referendum speech that led to the controversy, but it is said that it has not been approved. Perhaps the proposal had been rejected due to a decision that the party had discussed earlier.
Gotabaya out
Aiming at the presidential election, new alliances are emerging like mushrooms these days. One such alliance that emerged last week was the Vimal-Udaya-Dilit political alliance. Various stories in the political arena said that Wimal is ready to run as a candidate in the next presidential election. On the other hand, the story that Dalit told around the country after creating Mawbima Janata Party was that they too were ready to run for the presidential election. But it has now been decided to present a new presidential candidate from this alliance instead of Vimal and Dilith. This column will reveal who will be the new presidential candidate coming out of the Vimal-Dilit alliance.
Before that, something should be said about the hidden guest behind the creation of this new alliance. There was a man behind the scenes who launched a massive campaign to rally the Sinhalese-Buddhist forces into this new alliance. It is none other than former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It seems that Gota has not been active in politics in the past, but he has played a big role in gathering parties for this alliance, according to the inside politics column.
Lady Candidate
However, who is the presidential candidate of this new alliance? Despite being called the candidate, the person who is ready to run for the presidential election from this alliance is not a candidate but a candidate. She is none other than Mrs. Anuradha Yahampat who was appointed as the Eastern Governor by former President Gota.
Anuradha is a powerful figure in the Viatmaga group that brought former President Gota to power. She is also known as a woman who represents Sinhala-Buddhist forces. Anuradha was also known at that time as someone who worked closely with Gota.
However, in the discussions regarding who will be the presidential candidate of Wimalla’s new alliance, two names were initially presented. One of those names was Anuradha Yahampath. The other name was that of Mrs. Sita Arambepola. But because Sita Arambepola is now known as a state minister who works closely with the President, and because of the strong attack on social media on Sita Arambepola in a letter sent asking for privileges as a minister, she asked for an umbrella and a flashlight and Anuradha Yahampath’s name as a new character was confirmed by the group instead.
We are also of the opinion that it is a very good choice to bring a character like Anuradha Yahampath in a crucial battle like a presidential election. Because Anuradha is a clean character who has not been accused of corruption. A character of Sinhala-Buddhist background, comes from a business family, is educated and personable. Accordingly, if she contests the next presidential election, many people point out that Anuradha Yahampath will be the strongest candidate after Chandrika.
Plucky Amunugama
However, as if a drop of dung had fallen into the bucket of milk, another special incident happened on the same day that the Vimal-Dilit alliance was signed. That is the resignation of Dr. Sarath Amunugama, who was the chairman of Dilit’s Mawbima Janata Party. Sarath Amunugama is considered as a renowned administrative officer, senior politician as well as an educated intellectual. Sarath Amunugama was considered to be the most important politician on the stage when Dilit’s Mawbima Janata Party was born. Accordingly, Sarath Amunugama, who sent a one-line letter to Dilith on the day of signing the alliance, took steps to inform Dilith that he was resigning from the chairmanship and wished him well. But Amunugama did not mention any reason for his resignation in his letter. However, in a statement to the media the next day, Amunugama said that he had never done racist politics and that he left Dilit’s party because he did not like racist politics.
Shehan is fired
Aiming at the upcoming presidential election, Pohottuwa started their electoral campaign on the 26th from Anuradhapura’s Kalawewa Constituency. Pohottuwa has planned to organize 50 such meetings in a row until the announcement of the presidential election. However, during the Anuradhapura rally, a special signal was also given to the government from the side of Pohottuva. That is the message that there is no more room for Pohottuwa ministers who are working with the government. Apart from Chandrasena, the top political family in Pohottuwa’s Anuradhapura district was the Semasinghe family. Shehan Semasinghe came to Parliament from that family and is currently holding the position of Minister of State for Finance. But while organizing the Anuradhapura meeting, Pohottuwa deliberately avoided inviting Shehan Semasinghe to attend the meeting. According to that, many people point out that this step has been taken to unofficially inform the Pohottu MPs who continue to work together with the government that the door of the party is closed through the demolition of Semasinghala.
However, there are signs of a tug-of-war emerging between the President and Pohottuwa. On many occasions, Mahinda publicly criticized the work of the government and issued announcements to strongly criticize the process of restructuring the government’s profit-making institutions. Because of this, during the last few days’ extremely secret discussions inside Pothottuwa, proposed to give a condition and a deadline for the President to announce his decision, and if those conditions were not met, it was suggested to nominate a candidate for the presidential election from Pothottuwa. It has now been confirmed that the candidate is probably the millionaire businessman Dhammika Perera.
A message from Mahinda
According to the decision taken by Pohottuwa, as of last week, Mahinda had sent several highly confidential messages to the President in the hands of a third party. Although there is no specific information about what those messages are, unofficial sources that we know say that Mahinda has informed the President in that message to immediately resolve the issues that have arisen with Pohottuwa regarding the presidential election candidacy. Several sources say that these messages have informed Dhammika that Ranil will be the prime ministerial candidate in the presidential election.
Other sources say that if Ranil gets the presidential candidacy and prepares to give Dhammika the prime ministerial candidacy, it has been suggested that Dhammika should be appointed as the prime minister immediately. Other sources say that according to the notice given by the President, about 25 MPs from SJB are going to join the government, to fulfill that promise by June 15. If not, Mahinda has informed the President through these messages that Pohottuwa plans to announce his decision on June 17th.
A suggestion from Lanza
Accordingly, the Election Steering Committee appointed by the President met last week. In addition to the President, Prasanna Ranatunga, Mahindananda, Kanchana Nimal Lansa and many other ministers were seen together. In this discussion, many people pointed out to the President that he was ready to nominate Pohottua Dhammika as the candidate. Therefore, the ministers pointed out to the President that the government should respond immediately before that.
Lansa made the most controversial statement. He pointed out to the President that there was no point in discussing with Basil any more and that Basil would deceive the President if he did not withdraw from the negotiations with Basil immediately.
‘Don’t go to negotiate with Basil any more. Because what Basil is doing is deceiving you. We hear that they are going to announce the candidate for Pohottuwa on the 17th. Before they announce it, announce that you are coming to the presidential election.” When Lansa pointed out to the president, Prasanna and Aluthgamage also spoke with the same idea.
But the President answered all this with his familiar ‘Hm Hm’ theory.
Matara is out
However, Kanchana Wijesekera is currently preparing to organize a massive Matara rally on the 16th and bring the President to Matara. Despite being an MP representing Pohottuwa, Kanchana never invited Mahinda, the leader of Pohottuwa, nor the Rajapaksas have been invited to this meeting. Accordingly, many consider that this Matara meeting may be the first meeting to mark the official separation of the government from Pohotuwa. Accordingly, by last week, a special message had been sent to all the organizers and affiliated organizations of the party from Pohottuwa in Matara. That, informed to take steps to boycott Kanchana’s Matara meeting. Responding to this, Kanchana has sent a message to the organizers of Matara Pohottuwa and informed them that it will not be a public meeting without the participation of the President and all the ministers.
Fickle Rajitha!
Meanwhile, after this chain of events, we are ready to reveal another special matter that is going to happen in the next week. It is about an MP who is ready to join the government on the 4th. For the past two or three months, we have been revealing from time to time through this column that several MPs within SJB have been dealing very closely with the President and have obtained various privileges from the President and the government. We also reported in this column that some MPs had taken licenses from the government for their friends to start liquor distilleries. Also, we have stated that ten SJB MPs met recently at Mr. Iran Wickramaratne’s office in Polhengoda, and the meeting was called by the MP Kavinda Jayawardena, and in that meeting, Rajitha Senaratne, Ajith Mannapperuma and Kavinda Jayawardena were of the opinion that only the MPs should join the government. We reported from the belt.
However, after we reported this news in the column ‘, Kavinda Jayawardene and Ajith Mannapperum called Sajith and requested him to launch Sakwala programs in their constituencies. Accordingly, without making any changes, Sajith took steps to provide smart classrooms to two schools under the Sakwala program in both Gampaha and Jaela constituencies last week.
Ranil-Rajitha meet again
Despite this, a special meeting was held between Rajitha Senaratne and the President last Tuesday. In the discussion held here, it has been decided that Rajitha will make a special statement and join the government on the 4th. In the discussions held earlier, Rajitha had continuously informed that a group of about 25 MPs from SJB were ready to join the government with him. Generally, Rajitha is considered an exaggerating MP who acts on the principle of ‘if you tell a lie – if you give a rope’. Not that the president doesn’t know that either. In the last meeting held last Tuesday, the President informed Rajitha that he should arrange to bring the 25 SJB MPs who he said to the government on the 4th. But Rajitha has indicated to the President that he does not currently have such a group with him and that two more MPs are ready to join the government with him. Kavinda Jayawardene and Ajith Mannapperum are the other two who probably informed the President by Rajitha.
Sajith steady
This situation was also reported to Sajith last week. Most of the MPs who spoke to Sajith said that Rajitha joining the government at this moment is the biggest advantage for SJB. Here, the MPs pointed out to Sajith that Rajitha’s political history is full of such shifts, and because of that Rajitha has now become a politician who has become a loser among the people, and asked Sajith not to try to stop Rajitha at all.
However, in this situation, Sajith had a different plan in mind. Last week, Sajith had taken steps to hold two rounds of highly secretive discussions until past midnight at a well-known political house in Colombo on two consecutive days. Accordingly, Sajith is now ready to put out the names of three names that will join the government next week.
Basil’s secret
In this way, the news of Rajitha joining the government on the 4th had been reported to the chiefs of Pohottuwa. Accordingly, several seniors of Pohottuwa met Mr. Basil Rajapaksa and took steps to ask his opinion regarding the happenings. There, these councillors got to know from Basil several extremely secret matters that no one knew until now. In particular, the main issue that led to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa handing over the presidency to Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe also leaked out of Basil’s mouth for the first time.
‘When I was the finance minister, I arranged to take a loan of 4 billion dollars from India. We got that money in parts. But President Gotabhaya could not manage the dollar issue with the coronavirus epidemic. At that time, Ranil came and told President Gotabaya that he had 6 billion dollars in his hand. Ranil also told us that he can bring those 6 billion dollars to the country as soon as he joined the government. Gotabaya finally decided to give the presidency to Ranil because of this 6 billion dollar story. We said at that time that we would support the government for one year. But in the end, the dollar story was a complete lie. These guys could not bring a single dollar to the country. That’s why we had to turn back Basil has informed his friends here.
25 from SJB
Also, during the discussion between Basil and Ranil, a promise that Ranil had continuously made came out here. That is the story that 25 MPs are ready to join the government. As Ranil kept telling the same story every time Basil-Ranil met, Basil informed in the last discussion that he should arrange to bring those 25 MPs to the government before June 15th. If that happens, Basil has informed the President that Pohottuwa will support him, and if he is unable to do so by midnight on June 15, he has informed the President that Pohottuwa will decide on June 16th. Accordingly, as we said earlier, it is said that Mahinda has taken steps to notify Ranil through the message sent by a third party.
Accordingly, Pohottuwa had previously planned to hold a special conference on the 17th to officially announce the presidential election candidate of Pohottuwa. But in the last few days, the seniors of Pohottuwa had informed the Rajapaksas that if the candidate is nominated in this way, it will be a long time until the presidential election, so they should not name the candidate and only announce that a candidate will be presented from Pohottuwa. According to the proposal, Pohottuwa is currently planning to hold a special conference on the 17th and officially announce that Mahinda will present a presidential candidate from Pohottuwa if 25 people are not able to present themselves to the President before June 15th.
