Who Will Follow Choka Malli’s Lead in Reversing Course?
Ranil Faces a Major Setback from Hakeem, Rishad, and Sumanthiran
SF Left Powerless: Heading to India for Support
Ranil’s Strategic Overtures to Rishad
Mahinda Demonstrates Political Savvy
Deal.. Deal.. Deal… Deal…
Last week, the submission of nominations for Sri Lanka’s critical presidential election, which will determine the country’s leadership for the next five years, marked a historic moment in the realm of behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring. The week’s unprecedented political deals, aimed at last-minute efforts to strengthen various parties for the election, were a key factor. Some of these discussions took place discreetly in Colombo 07, behind closed doors, while others occurred in major temples across Sri Lanka. Among those involved were prominent businessmen, whose elite status would make their participation in such negotiations surprising.
A significant portion of these behind-the-scenes deals was orchestrated by the President’s side, as the government undertook numerous initiatives to bolster its position ahead of the nominations. However, last week, we highlighted potential missteps by the government in our ‘Inside Politics’ column, where we noted emerging divisions and disagreements within the government, particularly with the inclusion of certain senior members from Pohottuwa. We also mentioned that the President’s image had somewhat declined due to the inclusion of certain individuals in the government. As a result, we speculated that there is a possibility some MPs from Pohottuwa who recently joined the government may revert to their previous affiliations in the coming days.
Choka Malli’s U-turn
As we previously mentioned, State Minister Premalal Jayasekara, also known as Choka Malli, who initially supported the President, has now rejoined Pohottuwa and is backing Namal Rajapaksa’s candidacy. During a discussion with Mahinda and Basil, Premalal confirmed the information we reported last week.
Those who shifted from Pohottuwa are now facing significant challenges. There appears to be no clear plan for victory, and uncertainty looms over what will happen after the election. If the election is lost, there will be no accountability for those who left. The internal plans remain unclear, with Minister Prasanna Ranatunga leading the campaign from one side and Sagala running a separate campaign from another, resulting in a lack of coordination. Premalal’s candid confession to Mahinda and Basil has fully validated our previous disclosure in the ‘Inside Politics’ column.
Basil felt this
Premalal Jayasekarala had understood this but Basil knew this matter at the beginning. It was during the several rounds of negotiations with the President. During these discussions, the President had continuously indicated to Basil that he was working to add more than 25 MPs to the government. Rishad and Hakeem are joining the government. He said that the Tamil Alliance would support him. But after two or three rounds of negotiations, Basil realized that the President could not do anything. Also, Basil had understood well that the president could not win the presidential election. It is for this reason that Basil decided to field a separate candidate from the bud rather than supporting the president. But some big names in Pohottuwa, who could not understand the political issues that Basil understood, supported the President and left Pohottua.
How Rishad lasted
Rishad and Hakeem were the most prominent politicians on the President’s list of potential allies to bring into the government. However, when pressure began mounting from the government side, Hakeem quickly convened the party’s Supreme Council and decided to support opposition leader Sajith. Similarly, Rishad called a meeting of his party’s Supreme Political Council a week ago to discuss the matter. While the majority of members favoured supporting Sajith, only four MPs supported backing the President. This prompted Rishad to consult further with the party membership before calling the Supreme Council to make a final decision. We highlighted this situation in our ‘Inside Politics’ column last week.
After taking a week to announce his party’s decision, Rishad faced intense pressure from the government, urging him to support the President. MP Amir Ali, another key figure in the party, also received persistent phone calls and messages from various people on the President’s side, urging him to lend his support. As the pressure became overwhelming, Rishad and Amir eventually turned off their mobile phones to escape the relentless demands.
A call from Ranil to Rishad
Meanwhile, Rishad visited all the seven districts where his party members are in abundance and discussed with the constituency organizers and the people. Rishad also discussed with party representatives through Zoom technology in some places. Almost all the people who had commented here had informed Rishad that the grassroots Muslims are with Sajith, and therefore the party should decide to support Sajith.
Rishad arrived in Colombo last Wednesday after discussing with the party representatives. Almost at the same time, Rishad received a phone call from the President. In this telephone conversation which lasted for half an hour, the President continuously asked Rishad to give him the party’s support in the presidential election. Here, Rishad took steps to explain the ground-level situation to the President.
We are with Sajith
President, I love you very much. You have helped me a lot. But the decision we have to make now is not a decision that can be made based on the help that was given. This is a time when we should think about our people. It is time to think about what our people have told us. Two years have passed since you were appointed as the President, but you did nothing for our people in those two years.
All that is dead and gone. At least you could have revived UNP. But you didn’t even do that. When Rishad said that there is no acceptance in the villages, the president also explained to Rishad some of the reasons for that. But Rishad was in the same position and unmoved.
‘If you had asked me personally whether I like you or Sajith, maybe I would have decided that I like you. But now we have to make a political decision. I have walked in all seven districts in the past few days. Talked to our people, and talked to our seat organizers and all of them told me that it is difficult for you to win.
They said that Sajith win the election. So please allow me to make my decision. The other thing is that I am telling you not to contest this election.’ When Rishad said, the President continued to suggest some things to Rishad and tried to get his support. The President also told Rishad that a group from SJB MPs will join him in the future.
Rishad’s reply was ‘No, Mr. President, no one is coming from SJB. Even if it comes, this cannot be recovered. The politics of those comings are finish. That’s why you should not go too far behind the work that breaks the peace.’ was Rishad’s answer to the President.
Outbound calls
Along with receiving the information that Rishad was supporting Sajith, several other people from the President’s side also spoke to Rishad and tried to present him with various proposals. We have information about what proposals were made but for ethical reasons we will not disclose any of them at this time. Rishad proceeded to diplomatically reject certain proposals that came in a diplomatic manner.
In this way, when Rishad could not be turned to the President’s side, some parties in the government called Amir Ali and informed him to pressure Rishad not to take this decision. Amir Ali also told everyone who spoke on behalf of the President that this was not a personal decision, but a decision of hundreds of thousands of people who voted for them. Therefore, Amir Ali informed all those who spoke that the decision cannot be changed at all now.
Rajitha replaces Rishad
With the complete failure of the program to get Rishad into the government in this way, it was seen last week how the ministers of Pohottuwe, who came to the government with high hopes, suddenly changed. Since this situation needs to be rectified, the government immediately launched an operation to get Rajitha Senaratne into the government. The government was on the fence about Rajitha, but the government planned to hold it like a big event and show it to the country to rebuild the crumbling mentality. When Rajitha was expected to the government, another matter was said that after Rajitha’s arrival, Rishad was also going to join the government. However, after Rajitha joined the government, a few hours later, when Rishad announced that he would support Sajith, Rajitha also fell on all fours.
Sajith got the message
The message that Rishad would not join the government came first to the opposition leader Sajith. Sajith was at that time in Agalawatte and had come to Colombo after finishing the SJB meeting. Sajith also came to Colombo to participate as the chief guest in an event of ‘Uswatta Confectionery’ held at the Hilton Hotel. Accordingly, when Sajith arrived at the event at the Hilton Hotel, he was very excited by the message he received from Rishad.
Just as Sajith received the same message, an editor who had participated in another event held at the Hilton Hotel also received the same message. By that time, a friendly meeting was organized at the Hilton Hotel under the leadership of Mahinda and Namal to inform the editors about Namal’s presidential candidacy. This editor received the message about Rishad while chatting with Mahinda and several other editors. Accordingly, upon receiving the message, the editor proceeded to inform Mahinda about it. On hearing this Mahinda’s response was rather unexpected one from him.
Mahinda’s response
‘Oh my God … Is it so? So Ranil is done. Didn’t we tell them in advance that these would happen? Didn’t listen to us. They said they wanted to go to Ranil. You have to practice a little patience while doing politics. Otherwise, it will not work if you break away…’ was the story Mahinda told with a smile for everyone to hear. Having said that, Mahinda took leave of the editors saying that he had to go to another event held at the Kingsbury Hotel.
Namal’s arrival at the place, the concerned editor gave the same message to Namal for the first time. Upon receiving the message, Namal suddenly smiled and told the editors, ‘Oh God, what he told me when I went to meet the President.’ Intrigued by Namal’s answer, the editors asked Namal, ‘Why, why, what did he say to you?’
Ranil’s stories to Namal
He told me that about 20 people were coming to him. Harsha, Iran, and Kabir said were coming, and Hakeem and, Rishad said was coming. But when the President said this to me, I told him to get those who say they are coming quickly. I said that then we could also decide to support you. But as he said, I understood that none of them will come to him. I told this to our people…’ and then revealed some details of the face-to-face discussion held with the President in front of the editors.
Under this situation, the agreement between Sajith and Rishad was prepared to be signed on Wednesday at 1.30 pm at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, but even then the government had not given up on the task of breaking Rishad’s party. To show the country that the government has not collapsed with this decision, the three Muslim MPs who left Rishad’s party and joined Gota’s government some time ago, Ishaq Rahman, Ali Sabri Rahim and S.M.M. Musharraf were asked to hold an emergency press conference and making a statement that y joined in supporting the President.
Summons Sumanthiran
Realizing Rishad’s work would be messed up by Wednesday, the President immediately held an emergency discussion with the Tamil Alliance and launched an operation to get their support. Accordingly, the President called the representatives of the Tamil Alliance, Sumanthiran and Shanakyan Rasamanikkam, for separate discussions. It is not clear what matters were discussed in this discussion, but a special thing came out of Sumanthiran’s in his statement to the media after the discussion. There, Sumanthiran said, ‘The President knows that he cannot win. He is trying to prepare the necessary background so that he will receive a demand again in 2029.’ In that speech Sumanthiran said, it is possible to think that Sumanthiran may have said that the President cannot win, just like Rishad said to the President. It can be assumed that the President mentioned that he also knows that and that his goal is the 2029 presidential election.
Ranil’s theory
When Sumanthiran revealed the events of the meeting with the President, we had previously uncovered a special fact that could be based on it in this column. That story is nothing but a theory that the President has been putting into the heads of UNP members for the past 6 months. According to that theory, the President claims that even if Sajith wins this presidential election, Sajith will not be able to run the government for that long. This is the theory that the President puts in the heads of the UNP members that there will be an economic crisis again, where the people will once again come forward asking for him, and thus he will be able to win the 2029 presidential election.
The President is very good at bringing this kind of theory into the UNP from time to time. In the 2020 general election also, the President presented a strange theory to the UNP. There, the President had said that SJB will not get even 10 lakh votes in the general election and UNP will get more votes than SJB. But when the results came, SJB had held 54 seats, while UNP had not even a single seat. Even the President returned to parliament after a year to occupy only one seat from the national list.
Hyde Park Corner Plots
These days, you can see various shifts from one side to the other, from this side to that side. Many people accuse that all those who join the government from the opposition are given various positions, bounties, privileges, bar licenses, car permits, etc., so some MPs join the ruling party from the opposition. But the ministers from the ruling party come to the opposition party saying that they are not expecting any privilege or reward.
However, in the last few weeks, when various kinds of side shifts took place, the leaders of the opposition took steps to engage in some study of these events. They continued to look into how these shifts are initiated, how conversations are conducted, where meetings are held, etc. There they had managed to find a certain famous place which had been named for this purpose in the last few days. Many negotiations and deals have taken place in this place especially to get SJB MPs and Muslim Congress MPs to the ruling party.
Who is the female MP?
Those discussions took place in a large mansion located at Hyde Park Corner in Colombo. On the top floor of this spacious mansion is a luxurious penthouse. The owner of that mansion is a leading businessman from a family connected to politics in this country. He is known for always wearing white clothes. According to the facts found by the leaders of the opposition, it has been revealed that several SJB MPs and Muslim Congress MPs have been coming to this house for the past few days almost immediately after 9 pm and have been holding discussions.
Also, the opposition has finally received information about who the MPs and MPs who participated in those discussions, what was discussed in those discussions, what kind of food and drinks were given to them, etc. It is also news that a top power of the government has also come to this Penthouse last week and met several members of the opposition. It is said that on that day, a certain member of the opposition went and met this strongman of the government and discussed it. This member of parliament always talks about moral politics.
It is a fact that she always says that she will never switch parties, and if she has to do so, she will go home without switching parties. But the fact that she also participated in a discussion with this strongman in the relevant penthouse. However, the opposition leader has now found the information about all the MPs who participated in these discussions. Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem is also aware of it. Accordingly, all these people are there to reveal to the country all the information of these MPs who have made a deal with the government while being in the opposition at a crucial time after the presidential election.
Ranil Sajith
Several special events were witnessed at the office of the Secretary-General of Elections last Thursday when nominations were given for the presidential election. The most talked about event in the society and on social media networks was when the President tried to shake hands with the opposition leader Sajith when he was about to leave the assembly after handing over the nominations, but the opposition leader natively joined his hands to say goodbye. A serious attack was launched on Sajith by the UNP citing these photographs, and they said that Sajith was in a position to refuse the President’s handshake.
But even though only that occasion was highlighted on the social media networks, the President and Sajith who met face to face in the Election Commission could also be seen greeting each other by saying hello in the Sinhala system.
Mahinda Maithripala
However, there have been many instances in recent history where politically friendly leaders did not shake hands at important times. The first time was an incident like this that happened inside the Election Commission during the 2015 presidential election. There, President Mahinda Rajapaksa contested from the side of the government, and the UNP presented as the main opponent Maithripala Sirisena, who was the Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Mahinda. After handing over the nominations, Mahinda approached Maithri and extended his charm to shake his hand, but Maithri did not go to shake Mahinda’s hand. Instead, Maithree folded his hands and greeted him. Accordingly, Mahinda joined hands and greeted him.
Ranil Mahinda
Later, Mahinda was also invited to participate in the ceremony held after Maitri won the presidential election and handed over the post of Prime Minister of that government to Ranil. Here, Mahinda came to the Prime Minister’s swearing-in ceremony and extended his right hand to congratulate Ranil as usual. But Ranil did not go to shake Mahinda’s hand and accept his greeting that day. Instead, Ranil greeted Mahinda in the Sinhala way. Mahinda could also be seen saying hello to Ranil with his hands together.
A similar incident happened last Thursday at the office of the Secretary-General of Elections. On that day, the President came and tried to shake hands with Sajith, but Sajith responded by saying goodbye to the Sinhala system. However it was seen that the President did not respond and left the Secretary General’s office.
There is a great story behind political leaders not shaking hands with their rivals in such an extraordinary situation. Although many see it as an accident, they are known to be deliberate rather than accidental events. For ethical reasons, we are not going to reveal the issues affecting this column this time through a special writeup after the presidential election, we are ready to reveal all the information about the secret story to the country.
Whom did Fonseka meet?
Mr Sarath Fonseka made a surprise visit to India two weeks ago. At that time, it was said from Fonseka’s side that Fonseka went to India as per an invitation received from India. But even though Fonseka’s side said that he met the Indian authorities after he visited India, no related photos were published in the media. During a subsequent investigation, it was learned that Fonseka had gone to India to participate in a ceremony held at the Israeli Embassy there and that he had not held a special meeting with any of the high-ranking authorities of the Indian government.
Gota comes out
With Namal Rajapaksa appearing as the presidential candidate in Pohottuwa, it was seen that some parties had launched various media operations targeting Namal and the Rajapaksa family. In one of those media operations, it was said that there is no consensus within the Rajapaksa family regarding giving Namal the presidential candidacy in Pohottuwa. The reasons given by them were that they could not see the faces of the relatives of the Rajapaksa family including Chamal Rajapaksa, and Shashindra Rajapaksa on the day of the nomination.
However, it was observed that this news was completely false because after some time last week all the Rajapaksas united and pledged to work for Namal’s victory. The most special event witnessed there was the presence of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the ‘Pirit Pinkam’ held at Wijerama House on the day he was going to sign for Namal’s nomination. In addition, Chamal Rajapaksa asked the people to give Namal a vote for the sake of Mahinda in a meeting held in Hambantota. Also, State Minister Shashindra Rajapaksa is completely handling the Moneragala election campaign for Namal.
