It has been six days since Lalith Athulathmudali became the leader of the Democratic United National Front. At that time, President Premadasa suddenly decided to hold the Provincial Council elections. When Premadasa announced the elections, Opposition Leader Mrs Bandaranaike, together with the leftist parties, had just formed the People’s United Front. Premadasa intended to hold the elections before the parties of Lalith and Gamini, as well as Mrs Bandaranaike’s People’s United Front, could fully organise themselves.
As soon as the election was announced, Lalith and Gamini convened the Democratic United National Front. Gamini and Premachandra believed that the opposition should contest the Provincial Council elections as one united alliance. However, Lalith disagreed.
Premadasa’s and the UNP’s greatest enemy was Lalith — and Lalith’s greatest enemy was Premadasa. Yet Lalith’s view was that to defeat Premadasa, they should not form an alliance with the SLFP.
“If we ally with the SLFP, the UNP supporters will not vote for us. If we are to cut into Premadasa’s votes, we must contest separately,”
Lalith firmly said.
The first meeting of Lalith, Gamini, and Premachandra, after bringing a no-confidence motion against Premadasa, was held in Nugegoda. Even for that rally, they did not involve the SLFP. From that point on, Lalith and Gamini travelled across the country separately, building up their party structures. They worked tirelessly.
Seventeen years later, the UNP government was defeated — largely due to the votes that Lalith and Gamini split away from the UNP.
Lalith, Gamini, and Premachandra were not seeking ministerial positions in the next government; they aimed to defeat Premadasa’s regime. If they had wanted ministerial posts, they could have easily joined forces with the SLFP, sat in the front rows of SLFP rallies, and waited until the SLFP defeated Premadasa. But Lalith and his colleagues understood that Premadasa’s government could never be defeated through an alliance with the SLFP. They also knew that such an alliance would only get them a few opposition parliamentary seats in the next election — nothing more.
“So, what does today’s so-called united opposition want — to defeat Anura’s government, or to enter Parliament through the votes of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB)?”
The truth is, the former ministers now heading to the Nugegoda rally are not driven by small but by huge hunger — ministerial hunger, or at least MP hunger. These former ministers have held office since 1994 — for 30 long years. Now they cannot live without portfolios. If they can’t get ministerial posts, they can’t even bear to live without parliamentary positions. But they don’t have the votes for that.
Today, the votes in the opposition belong to the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Podujana Peramuna. Among the two, only the SJB has a realistic chance of winning an election. Therefore, these former ministers want the SJB and the Podujana Peramuna to unite — not because they want to serve the people, but because only then could they both defeat Anura’s government and regain ministerial positions.
They are not like Lalith and Gamini, who travelled across the country and worked hard to organize the people and build a political movement. These former ministers are unwilling to do that. They know the public will not gather wherever they go. What they want is not to increase the SJB’s votes — but to steal them.
Ranil, too, has no votes. Since 2020, Ranil has also been trying to siphon off the SJB’s votes. That is why Ranil and these former ministers get along so well.
Since 2020, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya has been building its voter base not only against the Rajapaksas but also against the corrupt ministers of the UNP’s 2015–2019 government. The SJB contested the 2024 presidential election with the message “Defeat the corrupt Rajapaksa–Ranil alliance.” The JVP said the same thing. Yet people believed the JVP’s message more than the SJB’s, because some SJB MPs were seen praising Ranil’s economic policies and even benefiting from his government. Therefore, the public believed that if the SJB came to power, it would not punish the Rajapaksa–Ranil alliance.
But it was the SJB that took the Rajapaksas to court over bankrupting the country. It was also the SJB that opposed Ranil when he postponed elections and appointed the IGP unconstitutionally.
The people defeated both the Rajapaksas’ cabinet and Ranil’s cabinet — not just because of the JVP’s campaign, but also because they believed the SJB’s message. They trusted the accusations both parties levelled against Ranil, the Rajapaksas, and their ministers.
Now the Rajapaksas, Ranil, and those ministers say they are going to Nugegoda to “wash off their sins.” But remember — it was Ranil and the UNP who, until 2022, attacked the Rajapaksas and their ministers and then turned around and took over the task of cleaning their dirt in exchange for power.
That’s where Ranil, the Rajapaksas, and their ministers all lost their credibility.
“Will the SJB also go to Nugegoda to wash their dirt and end up the same way?
It’s still too early to tell.”
