As President Ranil Wickramasinghe and members of the Pohottuwa always say, Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa invited SJB to take over the government and they did not accept it. However, Sajaba Member of Parliament Mr. Iran Wickramaratne gave a long explanation the other day regarding the allegation that the United People’s Force did not accept it. Sri Lanka Latest News
He said that this was a completely false accusation and that the leaders of Pohottuwa had already decided to give Mr Wickramasinghe the prime ministership.
Mr Iran’s explanations given below
Question:
A lot of people make the argument that if not for this President, who could have done it? And this week he again made the statement that he accepted the responsibility to run the government because no one else came forward. Sri Lanka has not fully recovered from the crisis but it is moving forward. Those were his words this week. How do you feel about that particular narrative, didn’t you come forward?
Reply (Hon. Eran Wickramaratne):
I would reject that narrative. That narrative has been promoted right from the beginning, and the reason I am rejecting it is this.
There was a call from the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksha. He wanted us to come and see him to discuss how the changes should be made. When that phone call came it was decided. The General Secretary of our Party, the National Organizer, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Tissa Attanayake – I can name them – Kabir Hashim, Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne went to see him. I was the one who, in a sense, led the discussion. I told him that if he doesn’t move quickly and resolve this issue, this issue is going to spill onto the streets. I told him that and I told him the social cost to the country would be very very high. I told him that we have brought the 21st Amendment to the Constitution and that was to abolish the Executive Presidency. I said to him instead of us brining it why don’t you bring it? You are the President of the country. You bring it now. Then people will see it as important. Your Parliament will see it because you have it. We are the Opposition. You have a two-thirds majority given.
I explained in detail to him. At one point he stopped me and he said “Are you expecting me to go in 2 weeks?”. I turned to him and said “No. that’s something that can be discussed” and he said, “The Bar Association sent the proposal at that time and they were giving me 1 ½ years”. I said, “This is something we can discuss”.
I didn’t go to put a time limit. But at the back of my mind obviously, I had a plan. If we abolish the Executive Presidency – the power is taken out, and power moves back to Parliament and to a team rather than to one individual, changing the whole way the whole country is going to be governed. And then he could be faced down. Then our General Secretary said this discussion is to go forward and he said “Eran is the one we are nominating for this discussion to go forward”.
And he had 02 people there in the room– 02 MPs. And he said, “Ok. they will take the discussion forward”.
The next day I called and then I heard that they were having plans to square in Ranil Wickremesinghe. Don’t bind to this narrative that has been made in the country that we refused it and that’s why Ranil Wickremesinghe was brought in. I think we are not that naïve. The plan was all along to bring Ranil Wickremesinghe. Calling us into that room for the discussion was just a part of their whole game plan so that they could say that they invited the main Opposition Party; therefore, that Sajith Premadasa ran away, and the Opposition ran away.
Certainly, if he came, we were going to have conditions. There is no question about it. Because people on the streets, people who were protesting wanted a change – and a real change. We were not going to be playing with that. We would have had an interim government; probably we would have gone for elections in a shorter period so that the people could decide who should be leading them. Because it was a social upheaval. People wanted a change. So, I completely reject that narrative – I see that every day.
They are trying to say that everybody ran away and therefore Ranil Wickremesinghe had to take it. I think they had pre-planned it – and good reasons. If you think about politics, Wickremesinghe has been in politics for 50 years; Rajapakshas, as a family, have been in politics for more than 50 years. All these politicians at the top who have been there for long periods know each other quite well. And, therefore, there is always more to the stories than that meets the eye. A narrative is made, a narrative is told and the people are made to believe it and I completely reject that narrative.