Forgotten ‘crown prince’ Namal
Game of Power takes a ‘blackmailed’ twist
Hidden schemes unfold ‘plot’ back rows of ‘bud’
News planted
In an exclusive revelation within the ‘Inside Politics’ column of ‘Mawrata’, it was disclosed to the nation for the first time that affluent entrepreneur Dhammika Perera is set to run as the presidential candidate for the Pohottuwa party. This revelation came at a crucial juncture when certain factions within Pohottuwa were circulating rumours about a candidate with a three-letter name being selected for the presidential election. At that point, we emphatically clarified that the candidate in question possesses a four-letter name, namely Dhammika Perera.
Subsequently, during the recent convention at Sugathadasa, Basil Rajapaksa, the key strategist of the party, strategically positioned Dhammika in the front row among the Rajapaksa family, dropping an unofficial hint to the nation regarding Dhammika’s candidacy for the upcoming presidential election. Our ‘Inside Politics’ column elaborated on the intricacies of this development in the previous week, divulging additional details and noting the consequential disturbance caused in the political landscape by Dhammika’s revelations. The impact was particularly felt on the side of the President, whose camp was profoundly unsettled by this revelation.
As we highlighted in our column, the disclosure by Dhammika Perera has set the stage for a significant political upheaval in the future, indicating the imminent onset of a substantial political battle.
The first news that appeared in the media after Dhammika’s arrival was the President’s statement in the cabinet that ‘We will start the presidential election campaign from January.’ Following that, another type of sprouting or ‘plant’ was seen in various news outlets. Some newspapers reported that the UNP leadership board will begin working in January.
However, even though information was being confirmed that a presidential election would be held, no one in the UNP had mentioned a word about the UNP candidate. It was seen that only one person on behalf of the UNP issued a statement saying that Ranil would run for the presidential election. It is none other than former Minister Ravi Karunanayake. Speaking to the media, Ravi said that Ranil will run for the next presidential election, and for that, party reorganization will start from next January.
But in the past when Ranil was in a very strong position, even ministers like Prasanna Ranatunga, and Dilum Amunugama, who issued statements that they would be close to him and support him, it was noted for the past few weeks, it was noted that have been on a silent. In the beginning, both of them publicly said that if Ranil ran for the presidential election, they would support Ranil. But this time, apart from Ravi, neither Prasanna nor Dilum spoke a word about Ranil.
Conditions to Dammika
Meanwhile, last week, a part of an extraordinary letter sent to Dhammika, who is running for the presidency through Bud, was seen in the ‘Inside politics’ column. In the letter that was sent to Dhammika from Pohottuwa, were 10 questions addressed to Dhammika, and an inquiry was also made regarding the answers to those 10 questions.
The 10 questions:
The 10 conditions presented to the candidates who are being considered for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna presidential election.
1. To get 51% of votes in the presidential election, the program of alliance with other political parties, groups and civil organizations should be presented.
2. A program should be prepared to provide an international-level education to the country’s students that can compete with other countries in the world. Also, the field of vocational training and skill development in this country should be raised to the international level so that one can work in any country in the world.
3. By increasing the fertilizer subsidy given to the farmers, increasing yields through the introduction of new hybrid seeds, introducing a fertilizer recommendation system based on the soil test paper etc., the program to create a smart agriculture should be presented by developing agriculture.
4. To eradicate poverty in rural areas and urban areas and to develop small and medium-scale businesses, a program should be made to flow money to those areas. Accordingly, a program should be prepared to create ten lakh jobs for the people in rural and urban areas. Ensuring that every person can get a certain source of income from the above program.
5. The economic growth rate should be increased to 7% and the economy should be expanded. For that, the program of generating new job opportunities by attracting local and foreign investments should be prepared.
6. The price of goods and the cost of living should be reduced to a level that people can afford. The DHO tax which is currently imposed should be reduced due to the heavy pressure on the people.
7. Government-owned businesses or government property should not be privatized. Also, a program should be prepared to make the government businesses that are currently losing money profitable. An integrated ICT platform should be established for all public services. To prevent fraud and corruption, a transparent system should be developed for all government purchases and tender procedures, as in other countries of the world, where information can be seen by the public. Strict measures should be adopted to eradicate fraud and corruption
8. To bring all the 17 public universities of Sri Lanka into the first 1000 in the international ranking, a program should be presented to develop those universities. Also, the courses of those universities should be adjusted to suit the international job market so that unemployed graduates are not born again.
9. To uplift the tourism industry, a related plan should be presented with the target of bringing 50 lakh tourists to Sri Lanka per year.
10. Sri Lanka should come up with a specific new program with dollar-earning strategies so that it does not have to face a foreign exchange crisis again.
That means no Ranil
In this way, with the above-mentioned 10 conditions being sent to Dhammika Perera, another big message was also given to the President’s side by Pohottuwa. That is Ranil is not the presidential candidate of Pohottuwa. Also, Basil put out these 10 conditions not just because he went to the cave, but because he looked at the five layers well. Basil was well aware that the whole political field would be disturbed by the sudden holding of the conference and the Dammika’s exposure through the conference. Also, Basil knew very well that the people would have to face a serious economic crisis in the future with the proposal to increase the VAT to 18% which the President presented as the Minister of Finance will come into effect from January 1st. Also, Basil reckoned that a serious crisis is going to emerge in the future due to the oppressive economic policy of the current government. Accordingly, through these 10 conditions sent to Dhammika, Basil hoped for answers to the economic crisis caused by the current government led by the President. Accordingly, if Dhammika answers these 10 questions, Basil plans to remove Ranil completely from the presidential election battle.
Dhammika answers
According to the information we have, Dhammika is ready to answer these 10 questions very soon. Within the next few days, we are ready to reveal to the country exact date on which Dhammika is to give answers to these questions.
Basil summons the second line
In addition to this, we are ready to reveal another special matter to the country through the ‘Inside Politics ‘ column this time. It was regarding some special discussions held by Basil a few days before the conference. Basil has been very friendly to Ranil and has taken steps to hold a special discussion by bringing the second-tier seat organizers of the districts and constituencies where there are ministers who have undermined the organization of Pohottuwa. Here, Basil had given them a hint that some Pohottuwa strongmen could work together with Ranil in the next election, and in that case, it has been decided to give the post of organizer to these second-tier leaders. Therefore, Basil also informed the organizers of the second-tier constituencies that they should start organizing their constituencies right now.
The names of some of the Ministers targeted by Basil are now in the possession of the ‘inside politics’ column. We will not reveal it at this time because they will have to face some crisis through it. However, after hearing about Basil’s discussion, several Pohottu stalwarts came to the party headquarters to ask Basil why such a discussion was held. There, Basil gave a wonderful answer to all of them.
‘They don’t work in seats. They are elected MPs. He holds the ministry because of the pot. But they are getting ready to ally with Ranil. Now comes an election year. So we have to start working on it. If they don’t work properly, we will have to send someone else to do the organizing. If you say, they will resign from those ministries. Basil replied that there was no need to resign from the ministry at this moment.
‘No, no, they don’t have to resign. I am saying that they should work for Pohottuwa because they came from Pehottuwa. If not, we will have to make other political decisions’ was Basil’s answer.
Pohottuwa to election
Apart from that, before bringing Dhammika to the stage, the bud led by Basil had made another special decision. That is to present the candidate who will be presented in the next presidential election from the Pohottuwa party, under the Pohottuwa symbol. Accordingly, it is clear through Basil’s decision that Pototwa will not contest the next presidential election with the new alliance or new sign.
Apart from this, another special task was entrusted to Dhammi before Basil left for America. That is the task of bringing other parties and organizations back into the fold. Accordingly, Dhammika, who took up this task, took the first step to discuss with former President Maithripala Sirisena last week. It is at Maithrie’s house in Mahagama Sekara Mawatha. In particular, the discussion was about building a kind of alliance where everyone can come together. Here, Maithri has pointed out to Dhammika that although the alliance formed with SJB is the main one, some people cannot join it, and all those people should be added to this alliance.
As we can see now, the biggest alliance is formed based on harmony. But there are also some problems. Insiders say that some people cannot be taken. Some even plan to break it. That’s why we need to bring everyone who can’t go there to join this new alliance. For example, they have already said that they cannot take Wimal and Gammanpila. We need to add them to our alliance. Also, others do not want to go there because Digambaram is with SJB on the plantation. So we have to include those people in this as well.’ When Maithri pointed out to Dhammika, Dhammika was seen nodding his head in agreement. Accordingly, it was seen that the discussion between the two ended optimistically.
Ravi’s dinner
Meanwhile, Ravi, who announced that Ranil was the presidential candidate of the UNP, was not idle after that. Ravi organised a special dinner for the strongmen of the government including Ranil at his home.
Accordingly, two days before Christmas, a Christmas party was held at Ravi’s house in Battaramulla. In addition to the President, the faces of Jeevan Thondaman, Harin Fernando, Dilum Amunugama, etc. were to be seen as political figures. But another special guest was also invited to this party. That is Father Valence Mendis, the Bishop in charge of the Kandy district. Ravi invited Father Valence Mendis to a Christmas party attended by the President in a background where His Holiness Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has accused the President and the government of not properly investigating the Easter attack. Some political issues were also discussed among the group.
The plan ahead
Accordingly, with the arrival of Dhammika, what will Ranil’s political plan be? We are ready to make a special disclosure about that this time through the ‘Inside Politics’ column. Usually, Ranil does his politics by ‘planting’ news in his friendly media. We have pointed out this on many occasions through this column. Also, on several occasions, we exposed the country through this channel about how the news is planted, where the news is planted, and to whom the news is given. It is because of these revelations that we have made that such news has not been seen for the past period, and it has also been seen that the people have become conscious enough to recognize such news.
However, this column came to know that within the next few weeks, the government is planning to perform a big political drama once again. This is based on the fact that the President has received the kind of power that can haunt Pohottu MPs. That power is nothing else but the power to dissolve the Parliament through a gazette when necessary.
Accordingly, the President’s party has planned to launch a massive media campaign within the next few days saying ‘ The Parliament was dissolved…’, ‘The Parliament will be dissolved the day after tomorrow…’. In addition to this, there is also news that the government has started discussions with the Election Commission regarding the holding of a general election, and plans to publish news that the Election Commission has been consulted. It is also rumoured that incidents such as those where they meet the President and demand Parliament not be dissolved have been included in this political drama to intimidate the Pohottu MPs.
A strongman to Nuwara Eliya
Currently, we have no information to say whether or not the Pohottu MPs will be caught in this political drama that is going to be performed by the government. But to stage this play, the President has also used the net to get the support of some powerful people in Pohottu. According to the information that we have come to know, it is said that the President, who spent the last few days in a spacious bungalow in the cold Nuwara Eliya, has brought a powerful minister from Pohotuwa to Nuwara Eliya and has taken steps to hold a special discussion. Also, the ‘Inside Politics’ column has heard that the President has discussed many other political issues with the Minister of Pohottuwa. In addition to this, there is also information that a family member of this powerful minister has been given a powerful coordinating position in charge of a certain province. It is said that this relative has been given that position to use this budding force in the upcoming political upheavals. We are currently receiving information in this regard, and in the future, we are also ready to reveal it to the country through this column.
Position what Dullas wanted
In the midst of all this, by last week, the huge political alliance led by Samagi Jana Balavega had shown signs of emerging. From the day Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe sat in the presidential chair, he tried to disrupt this alliance, which he tried to build with SJB as the leader, by implementing various operations. We have taken steps to reveal information about the various measures taken for that purpose in this column on many occasions. We used to report on this channel from time to time how different news was published, how different people were used, and how those operations failed.
However, the 13 members of the Free People’s Assembly, led by Dullas, were the main group that held talks for an alliance with SJB. The vast majority of people there have decided to join the SJB directly, but Dullas Alahapperuma and Charita Herath have delayed joining the SJB for some reasons. Dallas’s problem there was that he asked for the deputy leadership of the new alliance. But SJB had pointed out that since there are many parties in this alliance, a deputy leader position cannot be given to Dullas. Especially when there were many party leaders like Rauf Hakeem, Mano Ganesan, Palani Digambaram, and Rishad Badiuddin, it was read from Sajith’s side that Dullas could not be given deputy leadership and that a leadership board led by the leader would be created in this alliance. But as Dulles kept asking for the position, SJB eventually came to a middle ground and suggested that Dulles could be given the position of chief convener of the new alliance. But Dullas did not agree. Accordingly, Dullas withdrew from the alliance negotiations, and at the same time, Professor Charita Herath also withdrew. Charitha proposed that if they join the alliance now, it will be an advantage for SJB, and if they join within a month before the presidential election, it will be an advantage for the Free Janata Sabha.
Even though Dullas and others left the discussions, G.L. Peiris continued to engage in friendly discussions with the rest of the group. Their position was that the presidential election would be held next year, and the general election would be held two months after that, so they should form a new alliance now.
Zombies of the Alliance
However, even though the background for the creation of the new alliance was prepared in this way, there were no statements that contradicted that opinion within the society. Some of them publicly said in a press conference held at the opposition leader’s office that if any group joins the alliance, that group should accept SJB’s economic policies. He said that he should comply with the principles. As various people have issued statements against the alliance in this way, the party’s ministers and constituency organizers had pointed out to Sajith on many occasions that such statements should be stopped immediately as they are harmful to the formation of the alliance. Many people pointed out to Sajith that strict action should be taken against such people. In particular, the party members and seat organizers in the villages were making phone calls and leaving text messages to Sajith saying that if SJB is to advance at the current level in the village, an alliance must be formed, and everyone must gather for it.
Apart from this, SJB MPs also received a lot of information about the various statements made by some MPs who are trying to disrupt the alliance. These people had mentioned that if an alliance is to be formed, the president should be talked to about it first, and he and his side should also be included in it. Also, information was reported that they had discussed why Ranil could not be spoken to.
Apart from this, the SJB MPs had received a lot of information about the people who had participated in a certain house in Rajagiriya that there had been frequent discussions to disrupt this SJB alliance.
The ex-co-summoned
The working committee of the Sajith party met last Friday under this background. Because it was understood that it was a very crucial working committee meeting, it was seen that members of parliament, seat organizers and other working committee members were together more than usual. Also at the beginning of the meeting, speaking about the main topic of alliance building, Sajith told everyone that for SJB to win in the upcoming elections, an alliance must be formed and that in the last working committee meeting, he was given the power to build it, and accordingly, he has started the discussions, and that they need everyone’s blessing to succeed. Sajith brought up this topic because he had received information that some people within the party had already made statements and some activities against the alliance.
Push from Marikar
Along with this initiation of Sajith, Marikkar gave support to it. Marikkar insisted that to win the elections, the alliance must be formed, and there is no doubt about it.
It is an election year. Presidential and general elections must be held. We must have an alliance to overcome these. When we said that we were alllying, now everyone was worried. Ranil is the most upset. The bud is also upset. Anura too is worried. All of them want to break the formation of an alliance here. Because they know that the alliance formed here is the alliance that wins votes. You are the party leader who is asking for the presidential election. Therefore, we have authorized you to ally as you wish. If that is not the case, we will not be able to move forward…’ while Marikkar expressed his views in favour of the alliance, but some contrary views were also expressed. One such comment was made by Mujibar. It is said that some people who are going to join the alliance have created problems for the Muslim community in the past.
‘I have a little problem here. We have no problem with allying. It must happen. But there are some problems with the people who join this alliance. For example, MP Channa Jayasumana of the Free People’s Assembly. He issued some statements against the Muslim people during the recent riots against Muslims. We have a problem with that.’ When Mujibur said, Hirunika also proceeded to present some problems regarding this group. It means the number of votes they bring.
It is okay to ally. But we have to look carefully at the people we add to it. We need to see how many votes those who join this have, how many votes they will bring when they come to us…’ Hirunika commented, but Niroshan Padukka and Bandula Lal Bandarigoda were seen expressing the need for an alliance.
Sujeewa too oppose?
However, the best case of the working committee was seen after that. That was when Sujeewa Senasinghe got up and started expressing his views, surprising everyone. When Sujeewa started his comments, he said, ‘I am completely against this alliance.’ When Sujeewa said this in his familiar loud voice, everyone in the congregation looked at Sujeewa silently as if they were a mouse, with the feeling of ‘what is this man going to say’. Seeing that everyone was surprised, Sujeewa again loudly said, ‘Yes, I am completely against the formation of the alliance. Those who are with me raise their hands.’ But no one in the working committee raised their hands in favour of what Sujee said. It was precisely then that Sujeewa began his comments. ‘That’s what I’m saying. Don’t get ready to play dirty games here. We should do politics first. You have to face the elections. Votes must be won before governments are formed. If you want to win votes, you have to make alliances. When making alliances like that, you can’t see whether you are tall, short, black, white, Tamil, Muslim or Catholic. All of these should be collected. First of all, we need to see what is the percentage of votes we currently have.’ Sujeewa said, and Hirunika also took steps to answer the statement made a moment before.
Reply to Hirunika
‘Now here Hirunika said that before adding these people to the alliance, we need to see how many votes they have. Let’s say this, now Hirunika first started politics with Namall. Hirunika did politics with Mahinda and later came to Ranil. At that time, Hirunika did not come with the votes. But when Ranil got on the stage, she said that Ranil is a clean leader, Ranil is a good leader, and Ranil is a leader who does not steal. People accepted that. People accepted it because Namal and Mahinda came out and told people this. Now let’s take an example. If we take Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, we know that he does not have even three thousand votes. But when he comes to Sajith’s stage tomorrow and says that Sajith is a leader who does not steal, Sajith is a leader who does not kill, and Sajith is a leader who does not foster family power, people applaud Vasudeva’s speech. Then I don’t see whether Vasudewa has 1000 or 2000 votes. That’s why the story of no votes does not apply here,’ was Sujeewa’s argument.
Sajith with final dececison
Sajithya spoke after Sujeewa. Sajith said that he is working to build the alliance.
‘Everyone here is in favour of allying. So we will ally. But if there is someone against it, they can make a decision. Therefore, give me the necessary power for the work of allying…’ when Sajith said, everyone raised their hands and took steps to approve it.
Accordingly, at the end of the working committee meeting, the media groups also gathered outside, and they asked the MPs what happened in the meeting. Speaking to the media, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Maddumabandara and all the MPs said that they unanimously decided to give all the necessary power to Mr Sajith Premadasa to form the new alliance.
Sajith missing?
Accordingly, with Sajith fully possessing the power to ally, no one was able to find Sajith in the past two or three days. Although he used to travel around the country through ‘Sakwala’ and ‘Husma’ programs, no one got to see Sajith’s face in public. Many thought that Sajith was at home due to a minor illness. Sajith was suffering from a minor illness during those few days, but despite that, Sajith was engaged in a big political operation with a strong member of the Free People’s Council, Professor G.L. The negotiations between Mr Peiris, which were based on the formation of the alliance, were reached a very successful end, and Sajith had arranged to hold negotiations with some other prominent figures of the country during those few days. Due to the holding of these discussions at four places, Sajith had to go to these four places from time to time during those few days. The most special event witnessed here was the presence of some of the country’s most prominent figures for these discussions. In some places, it was seen that the highest figures connected to the government were also there, and could not be trusted at all.
Generally, in the past, none other than the current President Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe was known for holding such secret discussions. When Ranil was in the opposition, only three or four people who were very close to him knew about the discussions held to bring the ministers of the government to the opposition. That’s how secret those discussions were. Everyone can see the results of these discussions with twelve people from the government storming in and taking the seats of the opposition. But now Sajith held several such secret discussions last week in an extremely secret manner without the knowledge of anyone from the party.
Three cabinet members
Accordingly, this time we are ready to predict a strong political upheaval that is sure to happen through this column. Last week, Sajith met and discussed with three powerful ministers of the government in two places in Colombo. Sajith met and discussed with two cabinet ministers at one place, and discussed with the other powerful cabinet minister at another place. Both these talks were coordinated by a special person. In addition to these two cabinet ministers, Sajith had discussions with several other special figures in this way last week.
However, at the end of these discussions, Sajith had reached a special decision. That is definitely to build the alliance and prepare the background for winning the next elections. Moreover, Sajith also decided to take strict action against everyone, regardless of rank or position, if someone acts from within the party or outside the party to break or disrupt the alliance. There was a special reason that affected it. That is because they have made several special revelations to Sajith regarding the conspiracies of certain people to disrupt this alliance during the discussions held with the cabinet ministers and special figures of the government. Due to certain facts revealed by these people, Sajith was seen as astounded. Recently, when these ministers revealed to Sajith how these people met the President from time to time and discussed doing business and made various deals, Sajith was also surprised to hear them.