Heated Outcome from Ranil-Basil Meeting
Dammika Poised to Become Pohottuwa’s Presidential Candidate
President Optimistic About Debt Restructuring and His Presidential Bid
Which of the Two Government Presidential Candidates Will Withdraw?
What’s Brewing in the President’s Address to the Nation on the 26th?
President Spotted in Opposition Lobby
Basil is on the last leg
In the past, discussions between the president and Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, regarded as the mastermind of Pohottuwa, occurred once or twice a month. However, with the intensifying presidential election, these discussions have increased to two or three times a week. Initially referred to as ‘Ranil-Basil’ talks, the president has now ensured that another key group is included in addition to Ranil and Basil. This group comprises Prasanna Ranatunga, Kanchana Wijesekera, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Duminda Dissanayake, Vajira Abeywardena, Sagala Ratnayake, Hareen Fernando, Manusha Nanayakkara, Tiran Alas, and Mahindananda Aluthgamage, all of whom are members of the President’s Election Steering Committee. As a result, while the initial meetings between the President and Basil garnered media attention, the growing number of participants has made these meetings less newsworthy.
However, we have some exclusive information about a significant discussion that took place early last week, which we will share with our readers through the ‘Inside Politics’ column. According to our sources, a notable event during this meeting signals preparations for major upcoming political shifts. The discussion, chaired by the President and attended by key members of the government’s Election Steering Committee, including Basil, focused on forming a new alliance for the President’s future. During the meeting, several attendees, including Nimal Siripala and Duminda Dissanayake, expressed their views against including Pohottuwa in the new alliance, a stance that Basil watched with great interest.
A political bomb
In an unexpected turn of events, Basil broke his silence and dropped a political bombshell right in the middle of the discussion table
‘Very good. You guys keep building that alliance. I see that Rajapaksa coming to that stage is a problem for you. The Pohottuwa sign is a problem for you. But we have a party. That bud. We will move forward with that party. When Basil said, you guys keep doing your work, the President and the group were suddenly petrified. Accordingly, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga offered to answer it immediately.
‘Oh, no. No.. Sir… you all should be in this alliance. Commenting on how we can make alliances without Rajapakses…’, Prasanna told Basil that Pohottuwa has a big duty in the new alliance.
The President also spoke
However, the president emphasized the importance of Pohottuwa, particularly given Basil’s unexpected reaction. “No, no… that’s not the case. Today, we hold these positions and run the government because of Pohottuwa. We acknowledge this everywhere. If you doubt it, ask Vajira. In every party discussion, we credit Pohottuwa. We brought the country to its current state thanks to the strength Pohottuwa provided. Therefore, we are going with Pohottuwa…” Despite the president’s efforts to reassure Basil, Basil remained silent.
Even though Prasanna and the president tried hard to align Basil, according to the ‘Inside politics ‘ report, Basil’s reaction left everyone unsettled. They quickly grasped the political implications of his speech. Basil, hinting that Pohottuwa might go it alone in the upcoming elections, wasn’t an idea. The next day, he sent Mr. Sagara Kariyawasam, the general secretary of Pohottuwa, and Mr. Renuka Perera, the managing secretary, to the Election Commission. These two held an extensive discussion with the Election Commission. While the exact issues discussed remain unknown, a media notice before the meeting attracted many journalists outside the Election Commission.
Sagara told the media that they discussed the presidential election dates and confirmed that Pohottuwa is preparing for the election. Through Sagara’s responses, it was evident that they were considering presenting a candidate for the presidential election.
Dhammika is ready
However, one of the information that we have revealed for some time through the ‘inside politics ‘ column was that the millionaire businessman Mr. Dhammika Perera is ready to present himself as the presidential candidate of Pohottuva, and Pohottutuva has also agreed to the nomination. And now Dhammika Perera is all around the country. It is also possible to cite how they have started their election campaign activities by opening education computer centers. Previously, the Pohottu ministers in the government did not participate in these meetings, but now it is possible to see how even the Pohottu MPs who are ministers representing the government are joining them. In addition, it is also a special event that Dhammika has now started talking about politics on these platforms.
UNP is also ready
While Pohottuwa was making plans to travel alone, the UNP took another step forward and opened several offices to manage the presidential election campaign. The first office was opened at Mel Road, Colombo 07. It is the super house on Mal Road which was recently bought by a certain person. Vajira Abeywardena, the president of UNP, laid the foundation to open a super campaign office there. Although this was initially named as the President’s Election Operations Office, due to opposition from various parties, it was later renamed the President’s Political Office. Although the President, his wife Maithrie Wickramasinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and others attended the opening ceremony, UNP stalwarts such as General Secretary Range Bandara, National Secretary Ravi Karunanayake and Vice President Akila Viraj did not attend. Apart from this, the strongmen of Pohottuwa were also not present at that event.
struggling office
Under this background, another super office that can be visited by all was opened last week in Colombo R.A.D. M. Ramanayake Mawatha. The building is considered to be one of the most stylish office complexes in Colombo. It is noted that this office, which was opened under the chairmanship of Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, has now become an active place where not only the UNP but also the stalwarts of Pohottuwa frequently visit and hold discussions. It is also said that even the team entrusted with the President’s campaign operations and social media campaigns will launch operations from this building.
In addition to these two operational offices, another super style office in Bambalapitiya was opened last week for the President’s campaign activities. It is said that all its activities have been entrusted to a person who held a high position in a certain well-known media channel. The campaign work of all the electronic channels has been assigned to this former head of the media, and there he could be seen holding meetings and discussions almost daily and planning the campaign operations for the presidential election.
26 address to the nation
In addition to this media operation, this time we are ready to reveal another powerful piece of information from the ‘Inside politics’ column. It is related to the preparation of the president to run for the presidential election. Earlier, we had reported in this column that on the 16th, Minister Kanchana Wijesekera had planned to organize a huge rally in Matara without the Rajapaksa and present the official statement of the President’s candidacy for the presidential election. While preparing for that, we mentioned how Pohottuwa sent messages to the organizers of the Matara constituency telling them not to participate, and then Kanchana sent messages to those organizers saying that it was not Pohottuwa’s rally but a government rally. However, due to various reasons, the meeting could not be held on the 16th, and later Sagala came to Matara and said that on the 30th, a deed distribution program in which the President will participate will be held in Matara.
Accordingly, why was this meeting that was supposed to be held on the 16th suddenly postponed to the 30th?
While searching for information about it, this column received some special information. The first piece of information is that the government is hoping for some success in the foreign debt restructuring program, which was a condition presented by the International Monetary Fund, in the next few days. These days, related discussions are being held in Washington, USA, and it can be seen that the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Shehan Semasinghe is also participating in it. With some success, the President plans to address the nation on the 26th and make an official statement that the country has recovered from bankruptcy. At the same time, the president has planned to call an emergency parliamentary meeting on the 27th and 28th to officially inform the parliament of the news of the country’s recovery from bankruptcy.
It is also news that the President is planning to participate in the Matara land deeds distribution program on the 30th and officially announce his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election along with the political pressure he will take through it.
In addition to this, there is also news that the government has implemented a plan to bring several members of the opposition to the government on that day.
All this is unofficial information about the President’s voting plan. If all these events happen as expected, the President will address the nation on the 26th and announce his presidential candidacy on the 30th. If not, there may be some changes in these dates.
Wijayadasa Influences
Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa announced last week that he will run for the presidential election as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. At the same time last week, Professor Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa, a former Secretary General of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, mentioned to the media that the President had pressured Vijayadasa to resign from the post of Minister. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa said that Vijayadasa had informed the leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party about that. However, after this news was revealed by the media, Vijayadasa issued a statement saying that he was not informed by the President to resign from the post of Minister, and that the news is false. But although Vijayadasa rejected the news like this, Rohana Lakshman has not yet taken steps to deny his statement.
However, we took steps to publish a similar incident in the ‘Inside Politics’ column a few months ago. It was an incident that took place after Vijayadasa assumed the post of President of Sri Lanka Freedom party. There we said that there was a face to face meeting between Vijayadasa and the President, where the President left the cabinet ministers and said that two presidential candidates cannot be in the cabinet.
Here’s how it was said
In ‘Inside Politcs’ column we revealed on April thus.
‘In the last few weeks, the most controversial figure in the government has become none other than Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa. The reason for this is that Vijayadasa became the Acting Chairman of Sri Lanka freedom Party while he is still a cabinet minister in the government, and later that position was censured by the court. Mr. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa has already stated that he is ready to run for the presidential election as the presidential candidate of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party if a request is presented to him by the party.
However, a serious problem has arisen from the government’s side based on Wijayadasa’s issue. That is because Ms. Chandrika fraction Nimal Siripala de Silva, who is the Acting Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and Wijayadas, who was elected as the Acting Chairman of the Party, are sitting in the same cabinet. Many people who know politics say that Nimal Siripala’s team has the support of the President and former President Chandrika.
However, after being appointed as the Acting Chairman, Wijayadasa requested a time to meet with the President. According to that request, a special face-to-face discussion between Wijayadasa and the President was held recently. There, the President said to Wijayadasa directly, ‘This is a big problem. They are going to nip you in the bud now. If that happens, they will remove you from the council.’ With his usual smile, Wijayadasa said that he was ready to face it. Wijayadasa told the President that he started politics from the Sri Lanka freedom Party and for that reason he accepted the position of Acting President of the Sri Lankan Party.
Two candidates are not possible
Following that, the President posed another question to Wijayadasa. He mentioned that several people had told him that having two presidential candidates within the government was problematic. Although he personally did not mind, the ministers found it concerning.
Despite the situation, it is reported that a directive had already been issued from the top of the government to remove Wijayadasa. However, Pohottuwa has been avoiding this action. There are several reasons for this hesitation. One reason is that disciplinary action against Wijayadasa could lead to Chandrika’s faction taking control of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, as Wijayadasa is part of the faction opposing Chandrika. Additionally, Wijayadasa hails from Mahinda’s village, making it unlikely that Mahinda would act against him. Furthermore, taking disciplinary action against Wijayadasa would necessitate similar actions against his supporters, and there is insufficient time to conduct disciplinary proceedings and pursue legal action to revoke their positions amid ongoing votes.
Another prophecy
However, this time we are ready to reveal another prediction regarding Wijayadasa through the ‘Inside politics’ column. It is about an explosion within the government that is going to happen soon. Recently, Wijayadasa told the media that he is still keeping his mouth shut and will speak when the time is right. During our investigation in this regard, we learned that Wijayadasa is ready to make many huge revelations regarding many controversial matters. The news we have is that they will be extremely controversial and perhaps the biggest twist to happen before the presidential election.
President in the opposition lobby
Mr. Chandima Weerakkodi, who recently joined the SJB, made a noteworthy statement in Parliament. The MP accused the President of offering various privileges to opposition MPs to garner their support for passing bills. On that day, the President visited the opposition lobby, a rare occurrence, and promised various privileges to opposition members to secure the majority needed for the bills.
Typically, a president visiting Parliament would enter and exit through the ruling party’s lobby. However, MPs noted that the current President, since taking office, has frequently visited the opposition lobby and engaged more with opposition MPs than with those from his own party. A related photograph received by this column shows the President in the opposition lobby, having a friendly conversation with former President Maithripala Sirisena, Mujibur Rahman, Hector Appuhami, and Sujith Sanjay Perera.
SLFP to Sajith
With the presidential election just around the corner, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has split into Chandrika fraction and Maitri fraction. In the end, Chandrika had announced through the media that last Wednesday, the party’s executive council had convened and appointed Nimal Siripala de Silwat as president of SLFP and Duminda Dissanayake as general secretary. But before that, SLFP former Secretary General Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa, who issued a statement to the media, had stated that an illegal SLFP executive council meeting had been called by Nimal Siripala’s team, and the executive members should work to boycott it.
However, when the top ranks of the SLFP are crowding in the open like this, it has been seen how the lower ranks of the SLFP are working to rally around the Samagi Jana Balawega without anyone realizing it. Especially village level SLFP members are seen coming to the opposition leader’s office almost daily to unite with the party.
Why is the Sri Lankan grassroots coming out of to join Sajith? Why don’t those Sri Lankan members join Pohottuwa or Ranil or Anura?
In the last election, the SLFP managed to win a total of 13 lakh votes on its own. But given the division that has emerged in the party, many say that the amount of 13 lakhs has dropped to between 8 and 9 lakhs. When the SLFP grassroots members who represent it were asked what the reasons were for joining SJB, they said that SLFP is a small class party representing the working people, and it seems that only Mr Sajith Premadasa is currently implementing that policy and stands for the small man and that they will work together. Apart from this, the policies of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa are also very close to the members of the SLFP. It is said that this reason has also been the reason why village-level members of the Sri Freedom party joined Sajith.
Here is the set that arrived
Accordingly, in the meetings held over the past few days, former Minister Tissa Karaliyadda, who worked as the co-organizer of the East Anuradhapura Sri Lanka Freedom Party. P. Bandusena, Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s Kekirawa and Bandarawela constituencies organizers D. K. D. Dissanayake, R. M. Rasika Deshapriya Ratnayake, former Chief Organizer of Pothuvil Constituency of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, former Opposition Leader of Pothuvil Regional Assembly Abdul Majeed, Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s Trincomalee Constituency Organizer Ariyavathi Galappatti, former Minister M.K.D.S. Mr. Gunawardena’s son Nalin Gunawardena, the organizer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Seruvila, the former vice-chairman of the Kuchchaveli local council and the organizer of the Sri Lanka National Party A.S.M. Sajith, ex-member of Kuchchaveli Pradeshiya Sabha M.I. Salim and ex-member of Kuchchaveli local council S. Parameswaram, Sri Lanka Freedom Party former Provincial Council Member Rehensiri Waragoda, former Kalutara Municipal Council Member Prasanna Withanage, former Member of Parliament and former Minister Nandasena Herath, former Member of Parliament Tilak General Secretary, Mawanella Withanage who served as Chairman of Bope Poddala Regional Council Padmasena, Akmeemana Anil Priyadarshana Jagoda, a former chairman of the local council, senior member of Akmeemana local council P. H. I. A large number of people, including Sandaruwan, had taken steps to unite with SJB by expressing their support for Sajith.
Attorney General’s office
A few weeks before announcing the presidential election, the President made a significant political move by proposing a six-month extension for Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam. Historically, since the inception of the Attorney General’s office in Sri Lanka, no government has ever extended an Attorney General’s service. An attempt to do so during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure resulted in a fundamental rights petition being filed against the extension. The then Attorney General chose to retire voluntarily, leading Mahinda to withdraw the proposal.
Despite this precedent, the President decided to extend Mr. Rajaratnam’s service and began laying the groundwork for this decision. First, the news was published in an English newspaper. Subsequently, efforts were made to involve the Bishops’ Conference and the Catholic Church in supporting the extension. However, the Bishops’ Conference and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith publicly rejected the proposal, causing it to falter at the outset.
Resolution to the Constituent Assembly
This turned into a political issue when the President sent the relevant proposal to the Legislative Assembly. Accordingly, the Constituent Assembly met on two occasions, but the resolution was not adopted. Sajith was visiting the North when the Constituent Assembly met for the second time. Sajith contacted the Legislative Council through Zoom technology and said that it is appropriate to hold this meeting after his visit to Jaffna and that he should personally attend it as this is a very important matter. According to that request, the Legislative Council decided to meet last Tuesday (18) under the chairmanship of the Speaker to take the final decision regarding the extension of the term of office of the Attorney General.
Meanwhile, many people were expressing different opinions within the society regarding the extension of the term of office of the Attorney General. Some said that by extending the tenure of the Attorney General, the government is engaging in a conspiracy to extend the tenure of the President and the government. Others said that since Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya is scheduled to retire within the next few days, there are preparations to appoint Mr. Sanjay Rajaratnam to the post of Chief Justice that will be vacated by him. Because of this, by Tuesday, it was seen that the issue of the Attorney General had taken a very hot situation.
Messages upon messages
In the meantime, supportive lawyers sent brief messages to Mr. Sanjay Rajaratnam, urging him to retire with his reputation intact. Many advised him this way because Mr. Rajaratnam was widely regarded as amiable within the legal community, having no known enemies. By Tuesday, it was evident that numerous messages on Mr Rajaratnam’s mobile phone were requesting him to step down gracefully, reflecting his generally positive relationships with his colleagues.
Parliament heated
However, on Tuesday, Parliament convened amid the heated debate. The situation intensified when the President attended and delivered a forceful speech criticizing a Supreme Court decision. This decision ruled that certain clauses of the Women’s Empowerment Bill and the Gender Equality Bill presented by the government were unconstitutional. The President declared the Supreme Court’s decision unacceptable and called for a selection committee to challenge it, prompting a strong backlash from the opposition. Numerous MPs, including Sajith, Charitha Herath, Wimal, Dallas, Sumanthiran, Hakeem, and others, regardless of party affiliation, criticized the President’s stance.
Call for a vote
In the evening, Eran and G.L. launched a strong attack, arguing that the proposal to extend the Attorney General’s service should be addressed in the Legislative Assembly. They warned that passing it would set a dangerous precedent, especially with ongoing cases against the Speaker. That evening, the Legislative Assembly convened to discuss the Attorney General’s issue for about two hours. A subsequent vote resulted in the President’s proposal being defeated 5 to 3, with Sajith, Kabir, and three independent representatives voting against it. Thus, another strategic move by the President, aimed at the upcoming presidential election, failed at the last moment