Kalutara Strongman Breaks Ties with Ranil
Rajapaksa Rivalry Heats Up: Shasheendra vs. Namal
Internal Struggle in NPP Over Colombo Mayoral Candidate
Harini Denies Own Rules After NPP Allegedly Violates Them
Ranil’s Bid to Leverage Eran Ends in Failure
Ranil’s Latest Political Maneuver
We were among the first to raise concerns when murmurs emerged about a potential unification between the United National Party (UNP) and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). From the outset, it was evident that UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was not interested in genuine unity but rather in undermining SJB and its leader, Sajith Premadasa. His actions since the formation of the SJB—when a group of MPs broke away from the UNP—have consistently been aimed not at reviving his party but at dismantling its rival at any cost.
With this objective in mind, the Ranil-Ruwan duo strategically positioned Thalatha Athukorala as the UNP’s General Secretary following her return to the party. They expected that senior SJB figures such as Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Kabir Hashim, Harsha de Silva, and Eran Wickramaratne—who had longstanding ties with Thalatha—could be swayed back into the UNP. However, thanks to timely reports by Mawrata through its Inside Politics column, these leaders were made aware of Ranil’s intentions and avoided falling into the trap.
Some SJB loyalists have blamed Mawrata for allegedly obstructing the unification process, but the reality is quite the opposite. From the beginning, Mawrata consistently exposed Ranil’s covert attempts to weaken and divide the SJB. Now, with the unfolding events, it is clear that these warnings were justified.
In a desperate final move, Ranil turned to Harin Fernando, directing him to engage in UNP-SJB negotiations. However, rather than fostering unity, this maneuver was aimed at derailing the peace talks and delivering a fatal blow to the SJB. Consequently, discussions collapsed.
Moreover, we have repeatedly highlighted the activities of certain senior SJB members who have been closely aligning themselves with Ranil. We have exposed MPs who have shared land deeds with him, those who have acquired bar licenses and businesses under his influence, and the select few who have received financial backing from him. Some MPs have even been seen socializing with Ranil in Nuwara Eliya and making secret visits to the Presidential Secretariat with various personal requests. It is these very individuals—who have benefitted from Ranil’s patronage—who now advocate for a UNP-SJB merger.
The unfolding events reinforce what we have long asserted: Ranil Wickremesinghe’s efforts are not about unification but about systematically weakening the SJB.
A Youth Rebellion
However, the new young MPs in the SJB as well as all the constituency organizers at the grassroots level have a completely different opinion from the opinion held by these few people. They have been continuously pointing out to Sajith that he should not join the UNP, which has Ranil, who has been accused of serious allegations including the Easter attack, bond fraud, and the Batalanda allegations, or the UNP, which has people like Vajira, Rajitha, Harin, and Manusha who have no popular base, who have been rejected by the people, and who have been accused of serious allegations. Their position has been that there is a clean group in the SJB at present and that the SJB should not join forces with people accused of such allegations and make them the target of all those allegations. We have exposed that in this column from time to time.
At one point, these young MPs and constituency organizers directly informed Sajith that the SJB no longer needed dealmakers, and if there were dealmakers, they should be allowed to join the UNP. These MPs informed Sajith that the grassroots party members and constituency organizers at the village level were with Sajith and the SJB wholeheartedly and that they had no desire to join forces with Ranil.
They further pointed out to Sajith that if there were only ten people who were sincerely standing with Sajith, this journey should be continued with only those ten. With this revelation we made in this regard, the dealmakers who had made deals with Ranil and some SJB members who had taken bar licenses and funds from Ranil were visibly upset. But we continued to stand our ground.
Civic rights
However, Ranil, who has been continuously politically active in the past, was very much exposed in an interview with Al Jazeera two weeks ago. That exposure was so severe that it did not even take 24 hours for the Batalanda allegation, which had been suppressed for 30 years, to surface as a topic of great concern to society. Accordingly, Ranil has now found himself in an extremely helpless situation not only locally but also internationally. Many parties are expressing their opinions on this matter and saying that the Batalanda torture chamber allegation should be re-investigated Ranil’s civil rights should be revoked, and Ranil be given more serious punishment.
With this incident, the same UNP seniors who had been shouting in various places in the past that they should unite with Ranil are now saying that it was a good thing they did not unite with Ranil. They think that they should at least not even hold a discussion to unite in the future. Under this situation, the UNP has now found itself in an extremely helpless position, with the local government elections looming. The collapse of the UNP has made clear that they are unable to even find a candidate to field from the village.
Calls from Sagala
In this backdrop last week, UNP seniors Sagala Ratnayake and Rosy Senanayake called Mujibur Rahman, a SJB Colombo MP, and made a very imploring request. That is, somehow, the UNP and SJB should contest together for the Colombo Municipal Council. Sagala had told Mujibur to allow a few UNP members to contest for Colombo under the SJB phone symbol. Significantly this request was made at a time when serious frauds and corruption that had allegedly taken place in the Municipal Council during Rosy’s time as the Colombo Mayor were being exposed one after another in the COPE committee.
Rosy also called Mujibur and asked to join together somehow, knowing that if she contested alone, her election deposit too would be lost. Also, Ranil has spoken to two or three senior party members and informed them to somehow create an opportunity for candidates from both parties to contest under a common symbol, according to the ‘inside politics’ column.
But the SJB is currently contesting the entire country under the telephone symbol. Because no matter what the result, the SJB will be able to build a stable political party at the village level based on the results of the LG elections. Since it is possible to appoint a significant number of SJB members from the entire country from each Pradeshiya Sabha under the current situation, this local government election has been the basis for preparing the SJB party mechanism.
However, Knowing this in advance, Ranil postponed the LG elections, highlighting no money, to prevent Sajith from winning. In the end, it is clear that Ranil brought the Thalatha who was in the SJB back to the UNP with the aim of somehow defeating Sajith and making Anura win. But after doing all that to defeat Sajith, Ranil has now, at the last moment, been seen struggling like a fish out of water, facing defeat in the LG election.
‘Eran’ a trump card
Ranil played his final trump card last week, targeting the LG election. That was the Eran Wickramaratne trump card. Accordingly, a news item published on websites and Ranil-friendly newspapers said that Eran was ready to contest the post of Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council. Taking advantage of this trump card played by Ranil, some in the SJB also expressed their views to the media after this news was published, saying that Eran was the right person in the SJB for the post of Mayor of Colombo.
Even if some people in the SJB were caught by this latest trump card played by Ranil, it must be said that Ranil’s snort is not enough to embarrass the ‘Mawrata’. Accordingly, our investigations revealed that Ranil is going to play this card to create a crisis within the SJB, keeping the election in mind. This was made very clear because the bottom part of the news article stated that Eran would contest for the Colombo Mayor’s post only if the UNP and the SJB competed together. Accordingly, based on the facts we found, we publish information about Ranil’s latest trump card on the ‘Mawrata News’ website.
Sajith busy
Sajith, who is well-versed in Ranil’s games, had also instinctively understood what was going to happen as soon as such a news story was published on websites using Eran’s name. Although many people referred to Sajith as a political baby, it became clear that Sajith was not a political child or a fool as they think, because Sajith had been working to find the most suitable candidate for the Colombo Municipal Council during the past two to three weeks without telling anyone.
Sajith did not choose personalities based on friendships. After a long analysis of the population base of the Colombo Municipal Council area, their vote percentages, the way the votes were distributed, etc., Sajith had started following two particular personalities for some time. When Eran’s name came to the fore, Sajith started receiving messages from various quarters, and those messages said that Iran was ready to contest the election and that to do so, Rosy Senanayake should be nominated as the Deputy Mayor, and that the UNP-SJB should unite and contest Colombo. But what was special about it was that this proposal had also been made by the UNP group that has been accused of corruption. It was another plan to destroy the SJB.
Eran to Colombo?
However, Eran is not ineligible for the post of Mayor of Colombo. However, at this moment, a serious question has arisen as to whether Eran is suitable for the Colombo Municipal Council. The reason for this is that Eran is not currently representing the Colombo Municipal Council.
Although Eran initially contested the Colombo East constituency, he later left Colombo and moved to Moratuwa. Then, Iran, who entered Parliament on the national list in the 2020 general election, contested the 2024 general election and was defeated. The reason for this was that although Eran received support from the Colombo upper class and the business community, the poor people in the Colombo rural, who constitute the vast majority of Colombo, were not so impressed with Eran. There are also several problems regarding the relationship that Eran maintains with those people. Accordingly, although Eran is a good candidate, there is a serious problem regarding whether he is a candidate with enough strength to win the Colombo Municipal Council.
Defeated candidate
The other issue is whether it is appropriate to present a defeated candidate under the current political backdrop. Generally, in politics, people always look for an undefeated political figure. The best example of this is Karu’s arrival in Colombo in 1994. Karu was a hit back then because Karu was a new face, an undefeated character, and was accepted by all sections of the population. Accordingly, to win Colombo, the SJB needs a new undefeated character like Karu.
However, while the UNP was raising Eran’s name on Ranil’s side, several SJB members also spoke in favour of Eran, but his name had not been officially forwarded to Sajith. However, this request was officially presented to Sajith on Wednesday. When Eran and Rosy’s request too officially followed, Sajith directly told them that there would be no merger with the UNP at this time. Sajith, who had said that if they did merge, they would blame SJB for all the Batalanda allegations, Central Bank bond fraud allegations, etc., and had informed that the SJB would not agree to it and that the SJB would contest the Colombo Municipal Council alone.
Wijemanne joins
On Wednesday UNP Kalutara district strongman Lakshman Wijemanne broke out. Lakshman Wijemanne is an ardent UNP member who has been carrying the Kalutara UNP symbol forward since the time of J.R. When Sajith formed the SJB in 2020 with Ranil’s continuous political defeats, Lakshman stood with UNP, saying that he could not leave the UNP even though all the UNP MPs in Kalutara joined Sajith. No matter what obstacles there were, no matter what disappointments there were, Lakshman did not leave the UNP.
However, Lakshman Wijemanne has been deeply disappointed over the recent period regarding the return of someone like Rajitha Senaratne, who had jumped to various places and changed parties since the beginning of his political career. When Rajitha came to Kalutara, tried to cut off the deep-rooted UNP members and give the UNP constituency organizer positions to Rajitha’s friends. Despite several complaints to the party’s seniors, nothing came out of it. Accordingly, Lakshman chose to inform Ranil directly about this at the meeting held at the Sirikotha party headquarters last Wednesday. It had been organized to give new constituency organizers to several people in the UNP. At this meeting, Ranil had decided to remove Lakshman Wijemanne give Rajitha the post of district leader and give Kalutara constituency organizers to several others of Rajitha.
Opposition to Rajitha
Lakshman publicly expressed his opposition to Rajitha. There, Ranil was seen ignoring the protest and ignoring Lakshman. Also, when two other constituency organizers protested against it, Ranil publicly ordered them to shut up and sit down. Accordingly, Lakshman and these two constituency organizers left the gathering in great frustration halfway through the ceremony.
However, with this incident, UNP Chairman Vajira tried to calm the conflict by bringing in one of the constituency organizers. At that time, Vajira said that he would take steps to remove the constituency organizers given to the people brought by Rajitha and that steps could be taken to give them those positions.
In addition to Vajira, Thalatha was also seen talking to this group and making a great effort to calm the problem. However, Lakshman did not seem to be backing down until he spoke to Hiru TV on Wednesday evening and made a serious statement against Ranil. He said that if he had contested through SJB in the last general election, he would have been able to become an MP.
Lakshman joins
With this situation, Kalutara SJB District Leader Ajith Perera immediately called Lakshman and invited him to join SJB, to which Lakshman had no objection. However, Lakshman requested Ajith to keep the news a secret until he met Ranil for the last time and officially informed him that he was leaving the UNP. Accordingly, Ajith informed Sajith of this news and completed the mission to bring Lakshman to SJB.
Accordingly, Lakshman met Ranil for the last time and officially informed him that he was leaving the UNP. Unlike before, Ranil at this time was very earnestly requested Lakshman not to be hasty and to continue doing politics with the UNP. However, Lakshman refused and informed Ranil that he had now made his decision and taken steps to exit the UNP.
Balthasar in Trouble
While the SJB and the UNP were holding talks over the Colombo mayoral post, a special incident took place within the ‘compass’ over the Colombo Municipal Council. That was the announcement of Vrai Balthasar, a candidate who lost the last general election, as the Colombo mayoral candidate in the compass.
This was first announced to the media by JVP strongman Sunil Watagala. Later, JVP General Secretary Tilvin too had expressed views to the media confirming Balthasar’s nomination. Why did the JVP suddenly name a candidate for Colombo in this manner, before anyone else, in a context where no party has yet announced who its Colombo mayoral candidate is? The information available in the ’ inside politics’ column suggests that there is a major political crisis brewing behind this decision.
Harini not consulted
While Balthasar was being nominated by JVP for Colombo, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, a strong figure in the Compass party representing Colombo, had initiated a discussion to nominate an educated and professional person for Colombo. Harini has an inalienable right to do so. On the one hand, Harini is the Prime Minister of the current Compass government, and the other reason for this is that Harini is the leader of Colombo for the party. Harini polled millions of votes that the JVP did not have in Colombo to the JVP through Compass. Looking back on the past, the maximum number of MPs elected to the JVP from Colombo is two or three.
According to the information we have, Balthasar’s name was not initially proposed for the post of Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council. On the other hand, there was some political acrimony between Balthasar and Harini in the recent past. Many people say that Harini was also a strong reason for Balthasar’s defeat in Colombo in the general election. They believed that Balthasar was thrown out due to Harini’s campaign targeting Colombo. Many believe that this latest outburst through the Colombo Municipal Council is more a conflict between the JVP and the Compass than a conflict between Harini and Balthasar.
Conflict again
Since the day the Compass government was formed, we have repeatedly pointed out through this ‘inside politics’ column that a cold war has arisen between Compass and the JVP. Although this conflict has not been seen in public, our revelations have made it clear that it was serious behind the scenes. Accordingly, Harini was in a round of discussions in recent days to bring an educated, new, young professional to the Colombo Municipal Council. Those discussions were also in the final stages. However, information about these discussions had also been reported to the JVP. However, the JVP, which took possession of the Colombo list before the discussions were completed, suddenly decided to nominate Balthasar for the post of Colombo Mayor.
When a crisis arises within Compass based in Colombo, everyone has a serious question about what position Anura is in. But Anura is immersed in a strict silence on this matter. During the last presidential election, when the differences between the Compass and the JVP were escalating in this way, Anura had once firmly informed the JVP that if they went on to attack the Compass, he would have to take the side of the Compass. That was before the presidential election, but now, when such issues arise, Anura is seen quietly and carefully managing those differences without taking a side.
Balthasar for Colombo
However, by now, the JVP has named Balthasar for Colombo. What would now be the stand of Harini, the strong person of the Colombo for Compass, during the election campaign? As the head of the Colombo for Compass, the greatest strength was Harini. Harini had the right, to announce who should be the Colombo candidate. But now, Harini has been sidelined and the JVP has nominated Balthasar to fight in Colombo, raising doubts among many about Harini’s participation in the election campaign. Colombo is usually a UNP-SJB stronghold, so winning it is the biggest dream of the JVP. The JVP needs Harini’s support to make that dream come true, but given the current conflicts that brew within the party, it is impossible to say how this issue will end.
Sajith said it
The controversial incident that shook the country last week was the rape of a female doctor at the Anuradhapura Hospital. The government was informed about the incident on Tuesday, but the government did not take any action to publicize it. The media also did not report any information about the incident. However, on Wednesday, when Sajith arrived in Parliament and went home early to rest due to an emergency illness, a doctor from the Government Medical Officers’ Association took the initiative to call Sajith and inform him of the incident. The doctor said that this issue was very serious and that no one had yet revealed any information to the country in this regard. Therefore, the doctor told Sajith to somehow raise this issue in Parliament and that if the Leader of the Opposition raised this issue; the government would pay attention to it.
Accordingly, Sajith, putting aside his illness, once again dressed up and came to Parliament to inform the Parliament about this matter. However, when he wanted to raise this matter, many MPs told Sajith to keep quiet about it as this was a very sensitive issue. However, Sajith, who expressed his views against it, said that since this was a serious situation regarding the safety of women, it should not be suppressed, and that it was necessary to immediately bring the perpetrators of this incident to justice.
Accordingly, Sajith took the time to present this issue to Parliament. The whole country came to know that such an incident had occurred with this revelation by Sajith.
Harini Forgot Harini
Meanwhile, another incident involving Sajith was witnessed in Parliament last week. In the past, when Sajith provided computer classrooms, school buses, etc., which were limited to Colombo children, to the most difficult schools in the village, the JVP was one of the main parties that raised serious voices against it. They accused Sajith at that time and said that Sajith had brought politics to schools by providing computer classrooms and buses and that they would take steps to stop it immediately under a future Compass government.
Accordingly, as soon as the Compass government took over, Prime Minister Harini, who took over the Ministry of Education, issued a statement and said that the bringing of public representatives to palaces should be stopped. This was clearly stated in a statement issued by the Ministry of Education on 2024.09.25. Also, at a press conference held on 2024.09.27, Harini stated the following.
Harini denies
‘Politicians should not interfere unnecessarily in the ceremonies held in schools. For example, to open buildings, this and that. It is unnecessary work. When politicians come to everything, one thing happens: the cost increases. The waste increases…’ Harini said there. Accordingly, not only Sajith but also opposition MPs had taken steps to completely stop going to schools for such occasions. Due to this, the program to provide computer classrooms and school buses to children also came to an end.
However, last week, former Speaker Ashoka Ranwala attended a function at Henegama College, and Pohottuwa MP D.V. Chanaka questioned Harini about it and asked that a MP from Malima attend a function at a school, and through that, the government itself had violated the rules imposed by the government. When Chanaka mentioned, ‘Did she forget about the ban she had imposed?’ Harini replied that there was no such law and that she had not imposed such a law either. Therefore, Harini stated that no ban had been imposed on anyone not to go to school. Accordingly, the public violation of the ban imposed by Harini by lower-ranking JVP MPs has led to many people suspecting the emergence of the Malaima-JVP conflict.
Anura has risen to the top
A few weeks ago, a special opinion poll was conducted by a leading embassy in a Western country on the popularity of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. According to this opinion poll, which was conducted in secret by this embassy, which is said to have indirectly helped Anura to come to power, it has been revealed that Anura currently has an approval rating of more than 50%. However, it is understood that it is clearly stated that it is not for the government but for Anura.
Accordingly, the question that arises with this result is whether the government will be able to get 50% of the vote in the upcoming local government elections. Although Anura was unable to get 50% in the first round of the presidential election, Anura was able to consolidate power in the general election with a huge wave of people. However, the upcoming local government elections have become the decisive election that will decide whether the government’s path is accepted by the people or not. Because if the Compass cannot get 50% in that election, it will be confirmed that Anura does not have a majority exceeding 50%.
Also, in the last general election, the government gained enormous power from the North, East and the plantations. However, in the past few months, a public opinion has emerged among those sections of the population that the government has not done anything significant for these areas.
According to the information we have learned from neutral sources, the results of this local government election in the North, East and the plantations will be completely different from the results of the general election. If that happens, it will have a very adverse effect on the future of the government. Therefore, this local government election has become a very crucial one from the government’s perspective.
Will Chamal seize power?
Meanwhile, last week, Chamal Rajapaksa, the eldest of the Rajapaksa family, made a controversial statement. Chamal said that he is ready to contest the Pradeshiya Sabha elections if necessary. Although the Pohottuwa General Secretary must investigate a statement from a senior Rajapaksa family member, when the media asked Sagara Kariyawasam about it, Sagara said that Chamal had not officially informed the party about it.
But why did Chamal say that he was contesting the provincial elections?
There is a big story behind it. That is the power struggle that has been going on within the Rajapaksa family for some time. In the past, there was a big debate about whether Mahinda’s son Namal or Chamal’s son Shashindra, the senior Rajapaksa family member, should be anointed as the next leader of the Pohottuwa.
Since Shashindra entered politics before Namal and served as the Chief Minister of Uva, many people thought that Shashindra would be the next leader of the Pohottuwa. Others have said that the next Rajapaksa to rule the Rajapaksa family is Shashindra Rajapaksa.Mahinda brought Namal to parliament before Shashindra and made him politically more senior than Shashindra to give Namal the future leadership of the Pohottuwa.
Shashindra starts small
Although Namal is currently reuniting the Pohottuwa, Shashindra does not seem to be travelling around the country in the same way. However, it seems that Shashindra has started his future political journey from home. Shashindra has been calling selected groups and electoral organizers to his house almost every day to discuss future political activities. It is also reported that Shashindra has started a separate round of discussions with groups that had left the Pohottuwa in the past. These discussions have largely ended with Shashindra joking around with them. Namal’s failure to do so may have given Shashindra an added advantage.
However, a situation has now arisen where Mahinda will not be able to participate in election campaigning activities in this local government election. This is because Mahinda is preparing to undergo foot surgery in the next few days. Accordingly, Mahinda will have to rest during the local government election period. On the other hand, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is also currently politically inactive. Basil Rajapaksa is in America. Therefore, many think that Chamal has once again entered active politics to make Shashindra king.
