Politics Ripple Through Lavish Bolgoda Lake Wedding
Rivals Share Stage: SJB Attends UNP Convention as Party
Sri Lanka’s Power Hubs Draw Intensifying International Interest
Beijing’s Yuan Loan Could Trigger Trump’s Backlash
Mixed Reactions Greet President’s Japan Visit
Vajira’s game plan
The United National Party’s 79th anniversary, initially set for the 6th, was abruptly postponed under the pretext of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ill health and is now scheduled for Sunday the 21st. Yet, insiders acknowledge that the real reason for the delay was the failed bid to lure SJB leader Sajith Premadasa into attending — a move seen as a last-ditch attempt to project unity.
Sajith, despite years of political sabotage from Ranil, made a rare and genuine effort to stand by him — rallying the opposition, visiting him in remand and hospital, and setting aside personal grievances in the hope of forging common ground. These overtures briefly raised public expectations of a historic reconciliation between the UNP and SJB, potentially paving the way for new leadership and a fresh political front.
But in typical fashion, Ranil and the UNP spurned this opportunity, extinguishing those hopes and proving once again that self-preservation — not renewal — remains their guiding principle.
Ruwan’s newspaper
Although the SJB and UNP members sincerely hoped for a merger of the two parties, the ‘inside politics’ column had already reported with evidence that Ranil had started playing his usual game while he was in the hospital to break up this unity that was being built between the two parties. We said that while he was in the hospital bed, Ranil had informed Sajith that the government had started chasing Sajith to intimidate him. However, we also revealed that Sajith did not believe Ranil’s statement to a copper because he knew Ranil’s two-pronged tactics.
Subsequently, we expose to the country how Ranil had used the entire newspaper group owned by his cousin Ruwan Wijewardene to target and attack Sajith. The plan of Ranil and the group close to Ranil, including Vajira and Ruwan, was to intimidate Sajith and drag SJB and Sajith to the UNP anniversary stage.
By doing so, they would hold a big show and show the UNP anniversary to the country as Ranil’s resurgence. Accordingly, first, Ranil and Ranil’s hired media team published fake news in the ‘Lankadeepa’ newspaper that a strongman of the opposition was to be arrested.
Subsequently, the ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper published a false news report that an invitation had been sent to the SJB for the UNP anniversary, and that the party’s General Secretary Ranjith Maddumabandara had confirmed to the newspaper that the invitation had been accepted by the SJB.
In addition, steps were also taken to publish a false news report on the Sirasa Instagram social media network that the Bribery Commission had summoned Sajith to obtain a statement.
But we clearly revealed to the country that all this news is completely false, and that the media operation is a game of Ranil and Ranil’s Vajira, Ruwan and the paid media team writing them. The revelations we made were confirmed to be 100% true because no attempt had been made to arrest Sajith, as revealed by Ruwan’s newspaper group. Because the Bribery Commission had never notified Sajith to come to obtain a statement.
Also, because SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara had publicly stated that he had not been invited to the UNP anniversary and that the ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper had not spoken to him. Accordingly, it was confirmed to SJB and the country that the revelations we made were true and that Ranil, Vajira, Ruwan and the team behind this media operation.
What happened through this was the UNP leader completely squandering a golden opportunity that was being prepared for the UNP and SJB to merge due to his narrow objectives. Also, the camp was deeply disturbed due to our revelations that Ranil and Ranil’s gang were behind this operation. The result was that the attempt to intimidate Sajith and bring Sajith and SJB MPs to the UNP convention failed, and for that very reason, the UNP had to postpone the UNP convention.
New round of operation
With the complete collapse of the media operation, Ranil planned to somehow save himself and play a new game to bring Sajith and SJB to the convention. Ranil entrusted that plan to Vajira. Ranil and Vajira planned to launch the new plan in several stages.
The first stage was to capture SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara and several so-called seniors in SJB and continue to pressure Sajith to attend the UNP convention.
As the second step, Madduma Bandara and SJB seniors to meet separately and speak and decided to entrust Ruwan, Vajira and Sagala with the task of influencing Sajith.
The third stage was to lift the UNP party ban imposed on SJB MPs for taking up SJB membership. Through this, Ranil and Vajira hoped that the lifting of the ban would be given extensive media coverage, and that at the same time, a large number of SJB MPs would rejoin the UNP.
Ranil published the news in Ruwan Wijewardene’s ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper. Accordingly, he instructed the selected SJB constituency organizers to rejoin the UNP and entrusted Vajira with the task of conducting the discussions.
However, if two parties were to merge, it should have been done officially through discussions between the general secretaries of the two parties, but Ranil, playing his usual dirty game, set aside the official method and launched behind-the-scenes operations to bring SJB MPs to the UNP through unofficial methods.
Ranil planned to merge the two parties, declare that he was the leader, Sajith was the deputy leader, Vajira was the chairman, and Sagala would act as the national organizer. Ranil’s plan was revealed through Vajira last week when media outlets inquired about it. Vajira said that the national leader of the new alliance being formed it was Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Plan boomerang
However, the game that Ranil played went wrong because every SJB MP that Vajira spoke to informed Vajira that participating in the UNP anniversary was not a personal decision that he could make, but rather a decision that had to be made by the party and its general secretary.
Accordingly, Vajira realized that the unofficial invitation made by personally speaking to SJB MPs to participate in the party convention would fail. Vajira immediately informed Ranil of this situation, and Ranil informed Vajira and Ruwan to immediately speak to Sajith and begin discussions to get SJB to participate in the party anniversary.
Consequently, Vajira and Ruwan put aside the shame of the failure of the media operations they had launched against Sajith earlier and started calling Sajith.
Although he had been receiving calls from Vajira and Ruwan on his mobile phone since the beginning of last week, Sajith, who had already clearly understood their ulterior motive, did not answer any of them.
Once, Vajira had sent a message to Sajith saying that he wanted to meet Sajith just for 20 minutes. However, Sajith’s failure to respond to that was notable.
Rehan’s Response
In this context, on Wednesday, SJB’s Weligama Electoral Organizer Rehan Jayawickrama respond to Ranil’s decision to lift the UNP ban by posting a special post on his ‘X’ account. It stated as follows.
‘SJB MPs no longer need UNP membership.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya was established as a new party due to the weaknesses of the UNP leadership. The UNP has not embarked on the right path so far.
Also, no MP can hold membership in two parties at the same time.
Therefore, this news published by the UNP leadership is nothing more than a fake.’
Seniors are silent
Rehan dared to openly state the decision the SJB should take. The tragedy, however, is that none of the party’s senior figures had the same courage to take or express such a stand. These very seniors, who once broke away from the UNP to rally behind Sajith claiming “Ranil cannot,” “Ranil has no people,” “Ranil is not needed,” “Ranil cannot win elections,” are today fumbling in the dark, now insisting “We want both Ranil and Sajith.”
But politics cannot be built on duplicity. A party must move forward by standing with its leader and its policies—not by playing a double game. We are not afraid to say this openly because we owe nothing to anyone, nor are we indebted to anyone.
In the near future, we will make a significant revelation to the country, exposing the double-dealing of certain senior figures within the SJB and their true role in the party’s past. At the right time, the people of this country will know the truth.
As the UNP worked hard to bring Sajith and the SJB into its anniversary celebrations, Sajith spent last week meeting SJB local government leaders and the public in several areas, including Anuradhapura and Trincomalee.
Even while outside Colombo, Sajith held nightly Zoom discussions with senior SJB members about the UNP anniversary. Ultimately, the SJB resolved that—regardless of Ranil’s political maneuvers—the party would officially participate in the UNP anniversary on behalf of its grassroots members. However, it was agreed that Sajith himself would not attend and that the SJB would instead be represented by its General Secretary, Ranjith Madduma Bandara.
Behind the scenes, many SJB MPs who had previously spoken of a possible UNP–SJB alliance began to realize that the push to bring SJB representatives into the anniversary was part of a larger plan to sideline the SJB. Several MPs reported to Sajith that they were receiving repeated and intrusive phone calls from UNP figures, which had become a serious nuisance.
Responding to these complaints, Sajith instructed General Secretary Madduma Bandara that SJB MPs should not be pressured through private calls, and that all discussions must take place formally between the two party general secretaries. Acting immediately, Madduma Bandara conveyed strong objections to UNP General Secretary Thalatha Athukorala, insisting that Vajira Abeywardena’s private calls to SJB MPs were unacceptable and must stop.
Thalatha agreed, and the flood of calls to SJB MPs largely ceased. However, Vajira and his group continued to attempt direct contact with Sajith. Against this backdrop, the UNP has now scheduled its 79th anniversary celebrations for the 21st.
Where is Sajith?
However, where was Sajith while Ranil was launching such a massive operation behind the scenes to bring Sajith and the SJB to the UNP anniversary? Sajith was at that time joining the Opposition Leader’s Mobile Service covering areas from Anuradhapura to Trincomalee.
By now, due to certain decisions taken by the government, it can be seen that people in various fields have started agitations, protests, and satyagrahas in many places in the country. Hence, Sajith took steps to discuss with several parties that had held agitations during this visit and prepare a program that would provide solutions to their problems.
He went to the farms and discussed the problems faced by the farmers. The most special thing that was seen here was that the people of the village joined Sajith’s meetings with a great interest that had not been there before. They explained to Sajith with tears in their eyes about the problems they were facing. The other special incident was that many of the people who met with Sajith and asked questions were people who had voted for Malima in the previous elections.
When Provincial Council elections?
Last week, several media outlets and social media platforms reported that the Malima government was preparing to conduct the long-delayed Provincial Council elections.
After the presidential election, the government had initially planned to fast-track all three major polls: the general election, the local government election, and the provincial council election. While the general election was successfully held, securing a two-thirds majority for the government, the plan for provincial council polls was abruptly dropped after the government suffered an unexpected setback in the local government elections.
At that time, the Inside Politics column reported that the provincial council elections had been postponed until the middle of next year.
However, with fresh discussions now surfacing within government ranks about holding the elections sooner, Inside Politics began probing the reasons behind this shift. It was learned that the issue re-emerged during a private discussion between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and TNA MP Shanakyan Rasamanikkam, who had met the President in Parliament on the day the Presidential Privileges Act was passed.
Shanakyan Meets Anura
After the President’s arrival at Parliament that day, Rasamanikkam requested time to raise several key issues. The President agreed to meet him later in the evening.
At the meeting, Rasamanikkam highlighted three core demands:
- The inclusion of the Tamil National Alliance in development work in the North and East.
- The establishment of a dedicated North and East Development Fund.
- The devolution of power through the holding of provincial council elections.
He first discussed development and the proposed Development Fund, recalling that the TNA had held several rounds of talks on the matter with former Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe, without success. The meeting with Anura was arranged as part of continuing this push.
Rasamanikkam also raised the TNA’s exclusion from a recent meeting with World Bank representatives in Colombo. He explained that when he questioned Minister Sunil Handunnetti about the matter, Handunnetti had said the invitations were issued by the World Bank, not the government. Yet when Rasamanikkam asked the World Bank representatives directly, they denied inviting anyone at all.
During his meeting with President Anura, Rasamanikkam laid out all these concerns and formally requested that the TNA be included in all future discussions on development in the North and East.
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Provincial Council Elections
Rasamanikkam drew the President’s attention to the main issue of not holding the Provincial Council elections. The Tamil National Alliance had been focusing on the Provincial Council elections for many years. After the Good Governance government came to power in 2015 and took steps to carry out a new delimitation, the Provincial Council elections were postponed indefinitely due to problems.
Accordingly, in 2019, the then former Tamil Alliance MP M.A. Sumanthiran had submitted a private member’s motion to hold the Provincial Council elections. However, with the dissolution of that parliament, it was also dropped.
Subsequently, at the Parliamentary Affairs Committee meeting held last March, Rasamanikkam had questioned the Leader of the House, Mr. Bimal Ratnayake. However, Bimal had given Rasamanikkam a rather arrogant answer.
Rasamanikkam took steps to submit a private member’s motion to parliament again requesting that the Provincial Council elections be held in May. Since this is a private proposal, it requires at least 6 months to be submitted for Cabinet approval. Accordingly, the 6 months are scheduled to end next December.
Bimal’s response
During his visit to North JVP, general secretary Tilvin Silva said provincial council elections would be held but did not specify a date. Rasamanikkam raised a query on Tilvin’s statement at the Parliamentary Affairs Committee meeting last week. Bimal’s response was
‘ I do not respond to what is going on in social medi. ’.
Rasamanikkam retorted that it is a statement made to the Public media in Jaffna but Bimal end the meeting by saying ‘ I do not respond to that’.
Recalling this brief history, Rasamanikkam had accordingly questioned the President about the holding of the Provincial Council elections. Anura gave a very subtle answer. The President’s response was, “You should discuss at the party leaders’ meeting whether to hold the provincial council elections under the new system or the old system and come to a decision.”
Elections uncertain?
Although the President responded thus, the information we have suggests that the President gave such a response from a position of not holding the provincial council elections rather than holding them.
Otherwise, no matter what pressure India exerts, no matter what pressure comes from within the country, the government is in a position to further postpone the provincial council elections.
However, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, who was on a tour of several places in Anuradhapura and Trincomalee last week, challenged the government in every speech he made, saying that if possible, they should take steps to hold the provincial council elections.
Sajith also requested the people to use the upcoming provincial council elections to teach a lesson to the incompetent government that has broken its promises.
Anura begins work
The Malima government, which spent almost a year in relative silence after assuming power, suddenly took steps last week to lay the foundation for a number of development projects.
The government took steps to modernize the Pettah, Maradana railway stations and the SLTB bus stand. It resumed construction of the Kadawatha-Mirigama Central Expressway section. It began construction of 6 new oil tanks at the Sapugaskanda Oil Storage Complex.
However, a few weeks ago, we published a special report on the President’s visit to China, making a special disclosure through the ‘Inside politics’ column. we said that the President had requested assistance from China for the construction of the Kadawatha-Mirigama section.
Although China agreed to it, it took steps to present one condition, which was that the relevant loan concession be provided in Chinese yuan, not dollars. However, at that time, no one understood why China decided to provide the loan in yuan. When investigating this, it has now been seen that there is a more serious story behind it than what appears on the surface. It is not a coincidence, but because China has received information in advance that US President Donald Trump is preparing for a trade war.
Accordingly, it is learned that China had decided to start trading in yuan in advance to prepare for it. China has already entered into a massive trade war with Russia through the BRICS summit to break the dollar. Accordingly, China has taken steps to implement that Chinese policy for the first time by targeting Sri Lanka by providing a loan in yuan for the construction of the Kadawatha-Mirigama Expressway section.
Why in ‘yuan’?
On the other hand, it is also a special incident that China has not taken steps to provide the entire loan amount for the construction of this expressway section. China has provided a loan of $ 500 million for it. That too at a concessional interest rate of 2.5%. The remaining cost of $ 438 million is to be borne by the Sri Lankan government. This outcome will take some time to see how the US government will respond to China starting transactions in Sri Lanka in yuan. Many parties speculate that the US and European countries will respond to it very soon.
An energy war?
In addition, it is now possible to see that the risk of creating a serious international problem based on Sri Lanka’s energy sector has now emerged. We had previously reported in this column that China, the US, Japan and India have expressed their willingness to invest in the LNG project to be started in Kerawalapitiya.
What is happening there is that a floating gas storage terminal will be built and gas will be supplied to Kerawalapitiya through pipelines. However, while 4 powerful countries in the world have expressed their interest in the Kerawalapitiya gas project, it is now known that the government is preparing to hand over the project to a Chinese-Pakistani joint company.
It is reported in the ‘State Secrets’ column that countries such as India and the US have directly expressed their opposition to it and that these countries are preparing to intervene in the future.
Canada involved
While the situation was like this, a few weeks ago, another new diplomatic bombshell was seen to have been ignited. That is, Canada has also come forward to invest in this LNG project. A company called Green Link from Canada has come forward for this. Although this company submitted a proposal in this regard in 2011, the then governments were prepared to hand it over to other companies, citing various reasons.
Accordingly, they took steps to file a lawsuit in court in 2020 seeking compensation of $400 million for the fact that the relevant project was not given to their company but was given to another company. The case is still pending in court. It is also known that in 2022, this company met with the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe and held discussions to invest in the relevant project.
Accordingly, this Green Link company has started a new battle and has once again requested that the Kerawalapitiya LNG project be given to its company. Since the current government has stated that it is working against corruption and since their company believes that this project was stolen from them, their position has been that the project should be given back to their company.
Accordingly, it has been seen that not only India, America, China, Japan but also Canada are eyeing the Kerawalapitiya project.
As the President is scheduled to travel to New York, USA, to attend the United Nations General Assembly later this month, Canada is preparing to discuss this issue further with the President during that visit. Although there is no information yet on whether the Canadian government will intervene directly, or whether Green Link officials will intervene through the government’s intervention, it is understood that the Canadian government is preparing to make a major intervention in this regard during the President’s visit to the US.
Kerawalapitiya be a battlefield?
Accordingly, it is already evident that Kerawalapitiya is set to become an international battlefield in the near future. This has intensified with the Sri Lankan government having already given verbal approval to award the project to a Chinese-led company.
Accordingly, it is not known whether the Chinese government provided funds for the reconstruction of the Kadawatha-Mirigama expressway section, which had been dragging on for a long time, because of this verbal agreement.
Since powerful international countries have already opposed it, and it is not certain what decision the government will take in the future, it is also not known whether China has taken steps to provide a part of it instead of the full loan with the aim of testing the government’s stance. Many people are of the opinion that China has given a hint through this that if the final decision is made to award this project to China, it is willing to provide the entire loan required for the Kadawatha-Mirigama project.
Sapugaskanda ignites
The battle of world powers to intervene in Sri Lanka’s projects does not seem to have ended in Kerawalapitiya. Information we are receiving indicates that a similar international intervention issue is currently emerging based on the Sapugaskanda refinery. This is with the aspirations of many powerful countries of the world to increase the capacity of Sapugaskanda.
Currently, 38,000 barrels of oil are being produced at Sapugaskanda per day and the government had taken steps to invite aspirations to increase it to 150,000.
Accordingly, some time ago, the United States had given a huge project proposal to increase this storage facility to 20 million barrels of oil. This is a proposal of a much larger scale than the amount proposed by Sri Lanka. They have indicated that the excess oil stored in this way can also be re-exported if necessary.
In addition, China is also currently eyeing Sapugaskanda. They have submitted a project proposal to increase the daily production from 50,000 barrels to 100,000 barrels.
In addition, the United Arab Emirates has already entered the Sapugaskanda battle by submitting a strong joint project proposal with the Indian government. The Chinese company Sinopec has also submitted a proposal for Sapugaskanda.
In addition, it is said that India has submitted another new plan and the State of Qatar has submitted another proposal for Sapugaskanda for the first time. However, it has not been revealed which companies these are.
A proposal to be given out
In this way, a big competition was emerging between the world’s powerful countries based on Sapugaskanda, and a special discussion was held within the government last week. It is said that the government has also felt the heat of the battle that has emerged among the powerful countries of the world based on Sapugaskanda and Kerawalapitiya.
Accordingly, the government has decided to take these proposed projects forward without offending any country. Accordingly, it is said that the government has decided that it is appropriate to consider a proposal from another Middle Eastern country or a country like Vietnam if the relevant projects are not given to any of the countries that have submitted proposals.
In doing so, it is understood that the government’s plan is to peacefully quell the emerging conflict based on Sri Lanka’s energy sector.
However, it is not as easy as the government thinks because it is impossible to prevent all the other countries that competed with Sri Lanka from raising some resentment against the government, regardless of which country the government gave the relevant project to.
For example, the United States has already taken steps to impose a 20% tariff targeting Sri Lanka. If the Sri Lankan government does not do anything special for the US in providing these projects, there is a risk that this tariff will increase again to 40%.
In addition, economic analysts are of the opinion that the world economy is currently experiencing some contraction due to the taxes imposed by Trump. Accordingly, they have predicted that there is a risk that world oil demand will decline significantly within the next two to three months. If that happens, many have a serious question as to whether Sri Lanka will be swept away by launching such huge projects for fuel storage like a river.
40% to China
In addition, China has already started work on the Hambantota refinery. In the past, there was some disagreement between the government and the Chinese company Sinopec because China had informed it that it wanted a 40% share of Sri Lanka’s fuel consumption. However, the government’s position was that it could only give a 20% share to the Chinese company Sinopec.
Nevertheless, during the long discussions in this regard, the government has been flexible in giving the 40% share requested by the Chinese company Sinopec. However, the risk is that various parties have expressed the view that giving such a large share to the Chinese company Sinopec will lead to the collapse of the Petroleum Corporation.
Accordingly, when looking at this overall situation, it can be seen that the government is currently at risk of facing a very serious international conflict based on Sri Lanka’s energy. But the sad thing is whether the government has made any assessment in this regard. Or does the government have any assessment of where this conflict will end? A serious question has also arisen as to what the purpose of increasing the capacity of Sapugaskanda at this time is.
A photo shook the country
The current government came to power saying that it would start a campaign against thieves. Saying that it would not do business with thieves. Saying that all thieves would be caught and punished.
A large number of people who had been involved in politics for a long time in the past, such as Ranil Wickremesinghe, Rajitha Senaratne, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Mervyn Silva, Shashindra Rajapaksa, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, were prosecuted under the current government.
Several of them are currently serving prison sentences for their charges. A large number of others have been arrested and released on bail.
Against this backdrop, several special photos were suddenly seen circulating on social media last week. The photos showed powerful government ministers, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala, sitting at a table with several former MPs facing corruption charges.
Rajitha Senaratne, Mervyn Silva and Anura Priyadarshana were seen sitting together, and in one photo, Vijitha was seen holding Mervyn’s hands and smiling. Accordingly, many people immediately thought that the photo was created using A.I. technology.
Wedding in Bolgoda
However, our investigation into this matter confirmed that it was not created using A.I. technology, but real photos. The photos were taken at a wedding ceremony held at the Paradise Inn Bolgoda Hotel, located near Colombo, last week.
A large number of party and opposition politicians were invited to the wedding of the son of a famous radio station owner, and a large number of people including Vijitha Herath, Sunil Watagala, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Namal Rajapaksa, Rajitha Senaratne, Vajira Abeywardena, Karu Jayasuriya, Ranjith Maddumabandara, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Iran Wickremesinghe, Kavinda Jayawardena, Imtiaz Baqir Marker, Charitha Herath, Susil Premajayantha, Ashu Marasinghe, Yoshitha Rajapaksa and others were seen attending.
However, all eyes were on the way Ministers Vijitha Herath and Sunil Watagala, who joined hands and chatted with powerful politicians who are out in the open, on bail.
Mahinda in Trouble
After leaving his Colombo residence, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently residing at Carlton House in Tangalle. Although the former President had expressed his happiness in the media regarding this, it is learnt from the Carlton House that Mahinda is currently facing several serious issues. One of the main issues is the issue of Mahinda’s security.
Since Carlton House is located close to a main road in Tangalle, it has become a common occurrence for not only people from the surrounding villages, but also those on excursions and pilgrimages to Kataragama to visit Mahinda.
While at Wijerama, everyone who comes to see Mahinda is checked and taken in, there is no possibility of doing so at Carlton House. Therefore, everyone can be seen coming to Carlton House to see Mahinda without any hindrance. The security officers in charge of Mahinda’s security are of the opinion that a serious issue has arisen regarding Mahinda’s security.
On the other hand, it can be seen that Mahinda’s illnesses were constantly treated while he was at the official residence in Colombo. In particular, Mahinda’s foot injury was constantly treated with Western treatment as well as local treatments and physiotherapy.
However, due to Mahinda moving to Carlton House, none of these regular medical examinations are currently taking place. There is also no massage treatment for the foot. Therefore, it has been possible to see an increase in Mahinda’s illness.
Accordingly, Mahinda’s family friends have decided to temporarily rent a house in Colombo where Mahinda can receive medical facilities. Accordingly, it is understood that they are currently looking for a suitable place for that.
Anura on an official trip
The President, who is attending the United Nations conference in America, is scheduled to go directly to Japan after that. Previously, many people had raised questions regarding the President’s visit to Japan, asking whether this was an official visit at the invitation of Japan or if not, a personal visit by the President.
Their position was that if this was an official visit, the President should have met the Japanese Emperor and the Prime Minister. The reason for many of these questions was that the President did not meet the German Chancellor, the head of state, during his previous visit to Germany.
There, the President had only met the German President, who holds a nominal position in that country. Accordingly, many people alleged that the President’s visit to Germany was not an official visit, but personal.
However, the information we have at the moment indicates that the President is preparing to meet the Prime Minister and the Japanese Emperor in Japan. However, a problem has arisen in the Japan visit because the Prime Minister of that country, Shigeru Ishiba, has already announced his resignation.
Despite this, there was some disagreement within the government about whether the President’s visit to Japan would be fruitful. However, the dispute was resolved following a discussion between the heads of government and a group of Japanese government officials who had visited Sri Lanka.
When the issue was raised there, the Japanese representatives’ position was that even if a Japanese Prime Minister resigns, the appointment of the current Prime Minister remains valid until a new Prime Minister is appointed.
The Japanese delegation also pointed out to the heads of government that the procedure for appointing a new Prime Minister is quite lengthy and that the new Prime Minister will be selected after holding a party conference. Accordingly, the President has now decided to proceed with his visit to Japan as previously planned.
Aid coming
The Japanese government is preparing to extend a multi-million yen grant to Sri Lanka, marking the first such assistance in years and signaling a revival of the long-standing ties between the two countries.
Japan has historically supported Sri Lanka, but relations were severely strained during the administrations of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe. The first major setback came when the Rajapaksa government abruptly cancelled the light rail project—an agreement signed with Japan during the good governance period—without providing a valid explanation. This decision not only stalled a key infrastructure project but also compelled Sri Lanka to pay heavy compensation.
Relations worsened further when allegations surfaced that then-Minister of Aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva, had solicited a bribe from the Japanese construction firm Taisei, which was involved in development work at Katunayake. The complaint was formally lodged with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Japanese Ambassador. Following this, Gotabaya removed Nimal Siripala from office and appointed a committee to investigate.
However, when Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed power after Gotabaya, he reportedly stacked the committee with his allies. The inquiry cleared Nimal Siripala of wrongdoing, after which he was reinstated to his ministerial position. This handling of the issue deepened mistrust, leaving Japan reluctant to extend further aid to Sri Lanka for several years.
Against this backdrop, Japan’s renewed decision to provide substantial financial assistance during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit stands out as a significant gesture. As part of this support, Japan will also gift 50 luxury buses to Anuradhapura. These developments suggest that Tokyo is once again prepared to re-engage with Sri Lanka on more positive and cooperative terms.
