⦁ Gota. planning to enter parliament..
⦁ RW s hidden political agenda…
⦁ Who is the black sheep in SJB…?
It was a special event that the government of Sri Lanka took steps to allow the arrival of the Chinese spy ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ at the port of Hambantota, paving the way for another international crisis, as we revealed last week through the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column. In the past two weeks, we have taken steps to reveal to the country through the ‘Rajya Rahas’ that India and USA were very much disturbed due to the permission for the Chinese spy ship to arrive at Hambantota port.
We also pointed out how both the US and India had officially expressed their objection to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry. Accordingly, we pointed out that the options available to Sri Lanka are to either prohibit the ship from entering Hambantota or allow it to enter Hambantota on the 11th Thursday as scheduled, and we took steps to point out the diplomatic crises that may arise through it last week through the ‘Rajya Rahas’ channel.
However, the whole world was waiting to see whether the ship concerned would enter Hambantota port on the 11th or not. Here the government implemented some strategy and gave a notice to delay the ship’s journey to Hambantota and following the notice the Wang 5 ship arrived at Hambantota port last Wednesday (18). It was a special event that Pohottuwa MPs Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Sarath Weeraseka and Athuraliye Ratana Thero went to Hambantota port to welcome the ship.
4 Billion loan Palitha Kohonna mentioned
However, despite the fact that the powerful states USA and India have officially protested the arrival of the Vang 5 ship, there has been a lot of discussion in the political field as to why the government allowed the ship to enter Sri Lanka. Many people have mentioned that the Sri Lankan ambassador to China, Mr. Palitha Kohona, once said that after the arrival of this ship, Sri Lanka would be entitled to a loan amount of 4 billion dollars, that the Sri Lankan government allowed the ship to arrive in the hope of that money.
Palitha Kohona is a relative of the Rajapaksa family who was appointed as the ambassador to China during the Rajapaksa government. But neither the Chinese government nor the Sri Lankan government pay much attention to the statements made by Palitha Kohona
But after Kohona’s statement as the Chinese ambassador in China, the government allowed the Chinese ship to come to Sri Lanka, so many people thought that the government allowed the Chinese ship to come to Sri Lanka after Kohona’s statement of 4 billion dollars.Because of that, it was learned that many of the opposition had taken steps to inquire about this from the Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Kee Shenhong last week. Mr. Shenhong, who is known as an ambassador who deals with the opposition rather than the government, had a strange answer to those who asked about it. He said that it is not possible to give loans in that way, and that China follows a certain policy in giving loans.
Apart from this, the Chinese ambassador had mentioned another important matter to the opposition members. The Chinese ship left China after receiving permission to arrive at Hambantota port, and it was scheduled to arrive at Hambantota port on the 11th, but due to the government’s objection, had to spend another 5 days more in the sea. And then The Chinese ambassador had pointed out to the opposition MPs that the government has worked to anger China through this incident.
Accordingly, it is clear as the Chinese Ambassador Palitha Kohona mentioned, there is no possibility of Sri Lanka having a 4 billion dollar amount as a loan. Despite the official opposition of India and the United States, the government will not get the kind of relief it is hoping for by allowing the Chinese ship to come to Sri Lanka.
If so, how will India and the United States, who protested against allowing the Chinese ship to arrive, react in the future? Although they protested openly in the first round, as it seems now, India and America have not submitted their official response regarding allowing the ship to come. Both the countries are in deep silence. When Sri Lanka refused to sign the 1987 Indo-Lanka Agreement, India immediately invaded Sri Lanka’s airspace and began to drop lentils by air to Jaffna. Hurried decision was taken and took step to send the peacekeeping force to Sri Lanka. But since it is not possible at present, many people were waiting to see what kind of response India would give to this incident.
Indian ‘tit for tat’
However, although not done publicly, India took steps to give some hints in this regard. The first clue was the sudden increase in naval patrols conducted by the Indian Coast Guard. Fisheries boats entering the Indian coast from the north were directed to be strictly checked and some explosives and firearms were found as reported in the Indian media. Also, the news from Tamil nadu further reported that the LTTE has intensified its activities again and information has been reported that the LTTE is planning to revive in Tamil Nadu.
The second hint from India’s side was that many local politicians of India suddenly expressed their opinion that the Kachchathiv islands belonging to Sri Lanka should be returned to India. They had declared that the arrival of the Chinese ship to Sri Lanka was a serious threat to India’s security, and they had also taken steps to issue statements that the island of Kachchativ should be immediately handed over to India and India’s security should be confirmed. Although such a statement has not yet been issued by officially by the Indian government, it is not possible to easily dismiss such statements from the lower level at this moment.
Decisive move by USA
The next decisive factor is USA’s response. At present, the United States has become the most important party for Sri Lanka’s support in the discussions of the International Monetary Fund and the Geneva Human Rights Session. Because in both of them, if the support of America is received, it is possible to create a situation that is advantageous for Sri Lanka quickly. But with the arrival of the Chinese ship, the US has decided to give a stronger diplomatic response to India, according to the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column.
Accordingly, it is news that America has decided not to officially congratulate Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe after his appointment as the President. Sources indicate that the United States has decided not to give official recognition to the appointment of the President, and that the situation is likely to continue.
On the other hand, the influence of the United States on the International Monetary Fund is not insignificant. At present, the number one solution to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has become the support of the International Monetary Fund. It has become essential for Sri Lanka to have the support of USA there. But under the situation that has arisen, an uncertain situation has arisen as to whether Sri Lanka will receive American support in obtaining the support of the Financial Fund.
Samantha Jane Power factor ..?
In addition, USA has decided to send a very powerful representative to Sri Lanka soon. It is none other than Mrs. Samantha Pawar who is currently working as the head of Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Institute. In general, Samantha Power is considered as a woman who has lived in Sri Lanka for some time and knows very well about Sri Lanka.
Also, Samantha has often built her friendships with the representatives of the opposition rather than the representatives of the government. In short, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe had taken steps to call Samantha Power immediately after becoming the Prime Minister and ask her for help in getting the support of the International Monetary Fund.
There, Samantha has informed Ranil that the financial fund follows its process in giving loans to countries, and that it cannot be influenced, especially that the government must respect the process of protecting human rights. However, Ranil spoke to Samantha about it because he knows that she is a person who has a good understanding of Sri Lanka.
But the problem is about USA’s decision to send Samantha Power to Sri Lanka. Because Samantha is considered to be a person who pays more attention to topics like human rights and democracy. Samantha’s arrival is not considered a coincidence but a deliberate plan in the background where the United States has issued several announcements condemning the attacks, arrests, kidnappings, and imprisonments of the peaceful struggle in the past. Also, the Geneva Human Rights Council session is scheduled to begin next month and Samantha will arrive a few weeks away. Accordingly, it is impossible to think that Samantha’s trip to Sri Lanka will not be connected with the Geneva session.
On the other hand, the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are currently in progress. The agreements at the office level have not yet been signed and the Central Bank Governor says that a group of its officials is planning to visit Sri Lanka this weekend. According to the information we have, it is said that the discussions of the financial fund will be delayed, and it is not possible to say a time for the release of a certain financial installment.
In addition, last week, a group of ambassadors from the European Commission also came and met Ranil and given an indication about G.S.P+ Last week, we took steps to reveal through the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column that a warning was given regarding the granting of the Plus relief. We also mentioned that it was due to increase incidents of human rights violations.
If all these facts are taken together, it has become a matter of discussion in the political arena that the country will be in a very difficult economic situation by the coming October.
Talk of General Elections
It is under this background that talk of holding an emergency election is spreading. In the past, on several occasions, through this column, we worked to reveal information about the government’s election campaign. Last week, we revealed another special fact about it, how the 22nd constitutional amendment has made a slight detour to go to an emergency general election, and how the Pohottu MPs protested after the information was reported.
When Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe assumed the office of President, a promise given to Pohottu MPs that a general election would not be held until four and a half years had passed. But in view of the current economic crisis, Ranil’s plan has been to dissolve the parliament at the first opportunity, which is given the power to dissolve the parliament in two and a half years according to the 20th constitution, instead of four and a half years.
However, after the information was reported to the seniors of Pohottuwa, who met the Minister of Justice Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, those seniors requested that the clause be removed and the clause that the parliament cannot be dissolved until four and a half years has passed according to the 20th amendment, be included. But Wijayadasa, who has protested against it, has said that such a thing cannot be done.
Accordingly, by next March, the President will have the power to dissolve the Parliament. But the problem is whether the parliament can be dragged in the face of the ongoing economic crisis even until next March. In that case, the only option to hold a general election is to request the president to dissolve the parliament through a resolution passed by the majority of the members of the parliament. Then the President will be able to dissolve the Parliament.
JVP silence ?
Amidst all that, many people have also raised a question regarding the severe political silence that JVP is immersed in these days. Last week, we made a special disclosure and said that in the future, JVP will start a massive campaign under the name of ‘anti gota’. Many people have a serious suspicion that JVP is silent these days and is ready to start a campaign in a few days under the name of `chasing gota’ because they received some message from Ranil regarding the general election. In the past, the JVP has held press conferences and issued statements attacking the government, but now it has been withdrawn due to the message received from the President that the Parliament will be dissolved.
Apart from this, the government should also hold and conclude the local government elections before next March. Currently, the term of office of the local government bodies has been extended by one year, and if necessary, the government has the ability to extend it by another year according to the Act of Parliament.
Otherwise, the government will have to hold both the local government election and the general election early next year. It can be said from many quarters that the government will probably hold the general election first and hold the general local government election second. Accordingly, next year will be a crucial election year that will decide the future of the government and the future of the country.
Last week, the news that Samagi Jana Balawega MPs would join the government had become a major topic in the political arena. Various media as well as social media have been publishing news about this from time to time, saying that such a large number of SJB MPs are joining the government in a day or two, many people thought that a large group of SJB will join the government and take the positions of ministers..
Some newspapers had published the list of Sajabe MPs joining the government, and the names of Champika Ranawaka, Kabir Hashim, Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne, Ranjith Maddumabandara were also mentioned. But last week, Champika said in a twitter message that he is not at all united with the government. Kabir, Harsha and Eran held press conferences on several occasions and said that they would not join the government and get ministerial positions , but would support the government’s work through the parliamentary committee system by sitting in the opposition.
Cross over from SJB?
However, there was one more special issue that led to the news that Sajabe MPs would join the government last week. It was a special discussion held at the house of Mr. Ranjith Maddumabandara, General Secretary of SJB. Ranjith had called for the meeting according to a request made by several members of the SJB MP group that such a discussion was necessary.
In this regard, Ranjith party leader Sajith Premadasa had also been notified. However, two of the few MPs who participated in this discussion said that the SJB should join the government and obtain ministerial position, but all the others strongly said that they should act according to the decision taken by the party. They said that since the party has already decided not to join the government, they should act according to that decision.
Ethe same kind of news was published and it was said that 20 MPs, including the General Secretary of Samagi Jana Balavega, Mr. Ranjith Maddumabandara, are ready to join the government and get ministerial positions. Steps were taken though the discussion ended in this way, the next day in several newspapers and pro-government websites, to give a lot of publicity to the news through morning newspaper reading programs on television channels.
As no such conversation took place in the discussion held at Maddumabandara’s house, SJB seniors immediately took steps to investigate this matter. There they learned that the news had been given to the media and websites by two people involved in the discussion. Accordingly, SJB immediately decided to call a news conference on Thursday itself to correct the news by Ranjith Maddumabandara himself. Also, in the future, SJB seniors decided to reveal to the country about the two MPs who gave this false news to the media. Apart from this, Sajith and several MPs who participated in that meeting strongly said that they will not join the current government and will not betray their souls for the benefits or money.
Although many thought that the chapter regarding former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa would be over after he left the position and fled the country without telling anyone, the political talk regarding Gota has not yet come to an end. Gota, who fled the country, first stayed in the Maldives for a few days. After that, Gota, who traveled from Maldives to Singapore, decided to stay at Shangri-La Hotel, a super hotel located there.
Saga of Shangri-La
This Shangri-La Hotel is a subsidiary of the Shangri-La Hotel located in Galle face, Sri Lanka. The army headquarters at Galleface was transferred to the Shangri-La Hotel Company free in order to build the Shangri-La Hotel in Sri Lanka when Gota was the Defense Secretary. It is not known whether Gota was allowed to stay at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore as a sign of gratitude, but due to the non-extension of his visa, Gota had to leave Singapore for Thailand. At that time, it was published in some media that Gota’s son Manoj Rajapakse in America paid all the expenses for the expenses during his stay in Singapore and the plane expenses.
But issue arose when Gota traveled from Singapore to Thailand in a private plane. In this regard, at the cabinet press conference held last Tuesday, journalists asked the cabinet spokesperson Mr. Bandula Gunawardena, where he said that the government had borne the expenses for Gota’s flights.
However, Gota, who left Singapore, first wanted to stay in a secret place on the island of Phuket, Thailand. But when it was revealed to the media, the Thai government informed Gota to choose another accommodation. Accordingly, Gota chose the floor reserved for presidents of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. According to Bandula’s statement, it was felt that the government was also bearing the expenses of these hotels.
Bandula’s remarks on Gota’s expenses
However Gota issued a statement from Thailand on Tuesday and said that he would bear all the expenses of his foreign trips and would not receive money from the government. But it is also a special case that there is no word about renting a private plane anywhere in this reference of Gota.
However, several opinions are currently spreading in the political field regarding the settlement of these expenses. One group says that Mr. Nishanka Senadhipita, the chairman of Avan Guard who is currently in Dubai, is paying all Gotabaya’s expenses. Another group says that Gota’s son Manoj Rajapaksa, who is in America as we said before, is bearing these expenses. It goes without saying that no matter who pays for it, it costs a lot of money to stay in such a super hotel for days.
However, the country’s government had taken steps to provide Gota with a 90-day visa to stay in Thailand. Also, for security reasons, they informed Gotabhaya not to go out of the hotel for any reason. As soon as all this information was reported, Gota’s friends in Sri Lanka and the people who brought Gota into politics have now started an operation to force Gota to come back to Sri Lanka. Although initially this request was communicated to Gota through friends, now Gota supporters have taken steps to turn it into a propaganda project under various tag lines.
Accordingly, they had arranged to start a massive media operation last week called come home gota andbring back gota So far, Gota has decided to bow down to these demands and come to the island next Wednesday (24). When he arrives, they have already made plans to gather a large number of people in Katunayake to welcome Gota, and to launch a media campaign that will generate sympathy for Gota. Apart from this, it is also planned to get the reverends to issue statements that will develop Gota’s image again based on his arrival.
Under this background, all these people are trying to bring Gota back to politics and bring him to the parliament. For that, their plan is to remove Ms. Sita Arambepola, who is already elected to Parliament from the national list, from her position and nominate Gotabhaya for her place. And the argument of this group is that Gota still has a mandate of 69 lakh people.
Their argument has been that the mandate has been given by the people for a period of five years. Accordingly, their plan is to form a new government in Gota Parliament from the position of National List MP that is vacated by Sita Arambepola, and then name Gota as the Prime Minister with the signatures of the majority of Pohottuvu MPs and forward that name to the President.
Their argument has been that if the President resigns from office, as has happened so far, an opportunity will be created for Gota to be sworn in as the President once again. As a result of this plan, the slogan ‘Gotha Come Home’ has emerged instead of ‘Gotha Go Home’ which has been popularized all over the social media these days.
In this manner, Gota’s well-wishers were planning to bring Gota back to Sri Lanka and bring him into politics. in the mean time news repotred USA a court case has been filed against Gota before an American court. According to the information received by the ‘Rajya rahas’ column, the case was filed based on several incidents that happened before Gotha renounced his American citizenship in 2019, and the case was filed alleging that the American law had been violated.
This information has not been disclosed in any media until now, and for the first time it is disclosed to the country by us in the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column. Accordingly, even if Gota applied for the American green card visa facility in Singapore, with the filing of this lawsuit, the opportunity to obtain the green card visa facility will be lost.
After this information was reported, we took steps to find out more information about the nature of this case in the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column. There we learned that if Gota is found guilty of this charge before the American court, the American government can use all its power to subject its citizen to that decision
On the other hand, the American government has given a serious warning to the Geneva Human Rights Session which is going to start next month by filing a lawsuit against Gotha in the American court. We have stated on several occasions through this channel that there is a danger of passing a resolution against Sri Lanka in this human rights session.
Also, the United States has already taken measures to ban the entry of forty people, including former army commander Mr. Shavendra Silva. However, by filing this type of lawsuit targeting a former president, there is a risk that the United States will be pressured to conduct another investigation based on war crimes charges in Geneva in the future.
Accordingly, Gota will have to take the support of the best lawyers in America and appear in this case. And Gotabhaya will have to fight hard to get rid of it. Under such circumstances, if Gota receives a summons from the American court, we have to wait and see how the Sri Lankan government will react. However, Gota is left with few options under the emerging situation. Many people are of the opinion that the best option is to come back to Sri Lanka and do politics.
This accident did not go unnoticed by Mr. Basil Rajapaksa who is an American citizen. About a month ago, on the same day that Gota left Sri Lanka, Basil also came to Katunayake to leave for America, but Basil took steps to postpone the trip due to the protests. But since Basil has been banned from traveling abroad, there is no possibility for him to leave Sri Lanka.
But many people are of the opinion that if Basil leaves for America after the foreign travel ban is lifted, this risk will also arise for him. Because as an American citizen, Basil is bound by law to uphold American law. According to the law of the country, they have to submit assets and liabilities. Human rights must be protected. Thus, a group of Sri Lankans in America are also staying until Basil comes to America. If the American government does not file a case against Basil, those Sri Lankans will take the initiative to file a case against Basil in the American court.
In the midst of all this, Basil is currently involved in another political game. That is the program to establish a new pohottuwa government. Accordingly, a group including Basil took steps to meet President Ranil Wickremesinghe last Thursday. In this discussion, Basil first informed the President that Gotabhaya is scheduled to come to Sri Lanka, and for that he should be provided with the necessary security.
one moth more for the formation of new government
Also, regarding the establishment of the all-party government, Basil and the group had taken steps to question the joining of the Samagi Jana Balawega to the government. There, Ranil took steps to ask for a month’s time to form a government. Ranil said that discussions are still going on with the SJB MPs regarding the ministers, and he needs two weeks to finish it. After that, Ranil mentioned that a national government can be formed within a month.
After that, discussions were held regarding the ministerial posts of the national government thus formed. There, Basil clearly said that Pohottuwa should get 17 ministerial positions since Pohottuwa has the majority power in that government. Ranil agreed to that.
By special correspondent