“We washed away the blood of the UNP and removed the dung…”
These were the words of Gamini Dissanayake, who had once been expelled from the UNP and went on to form the Eagle Party, officially known as the Democratic United National Front (DUNF). These remarks were made during his visit to ‘Sirikotha’ after rejoining the UNP.
Following their expulsion, Gamini, Lalith, and Premachandra established the DUNF and became vocal critics of President and UNP leader Ranasinghe Premadasa. They actively worked to tarnish Premadasa’s image, as well as that of his cabinet, believing that under his leadership, their return to the UNP would be impossible. Aware that rejoining under Premadasa would mean facing humiliation at Sirikotha, they continued their opposition.
However, Premadasa instructed Party General Secretary Sirisena Cooray and Leader of the House Ranil Wickremesinghe to initiate negotiations for Gamini and Lalith’s return to the UNP. During these discussions, both expressed concerns that rejoining the party under Premadasa’s leadership would amount to political suicide.
After Premadasa was assassinated, Gamini expressed his willingness to rejoin the UNP for several reasons. The first was that in the 1993 Provincial Council elections, the Democratic United National Front could only secure 1 million votes. Without Lalith, Gamini and Premachandra, the UNP lost only the Western Provincial Council. Although there was a question of majority in the North-West and South, the UNP won all the other Provincial Councils on its own. Even though Gamini contested as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the Central Province, Gamini suffered a crushing defeat. Above all, Gamini thought that joining the UNP without Premadasa could be justified before the people.
He went to Sirikotha and declared that they had cleansed the UNP of its past stains, offering a valid justification for joining the party and shaping public perception that the UNP had changed. The party leaders did not object—they were focused on winning. They recognized that President Wijetunga and Prime Minister Ranil lacked public appeal and were unlikely to secure victory in the elections.
Despite Ranil’s efforts to safeguard both the government and the party during Premadasa’s tenure and after his assassination, they sidelined him in favor of Gamini. Although Gamini had previously criticized Premadasa and sought to damage the reputations of both the government and the UNP, the leadership saw in him the ability to rebuild the party and secure an electoral win. Later, there was unanimous agreement that Gamini should be the presidential candidate. Even Premadasa’s supporters, including Sajith and the Premadasa family, rallied behind him—because, above all, they wanted victory.
This is how Formation of Elephant-Eagle happened
Discussions have begun on merging the United National Party (UNP) and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). Ideally, these talks should have taken place before the presidential election. Before the election, opinion polls indicated that Sajith Premadasa was the strongest candidate capable of challenging Anura Kumara Dissanayake. At that juncture, the UNP should have invited Sajith back into the party and offered him the presidential candidacy.
However, instead of uniting behind him, the UNP—starting with its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe—actively worked against Sajith, ultimately paving the way for Anura’s victory. Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara accepted ministerial positions in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, deliberately undermining Sajith, the only viable candidate from the democratic right. Never in Sri Lanka’s political history has a presidential election seen such internal betrayal, where key figures defected to secure victory for the opposition.
Thalatha Athukorala played a key role in this betrayal. Aware of Ranil’s impending defeat, she left the SJB, launching relentless attacks on Sajith to ensure Anura’s win. While defecting, she even claimed that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) would win the presidency, not Ranil. Despite appearing to align with Ranil, her real allegiance lay with Anura Kumara and the JVP. In the campaign’s final days, Anura used Thalatha to attack Sajith, even feigning disappointment over her defection to deceive the public.
Given this history, one must question: does Thalatha genuinely intend to unite the UNP and SJB? Anyone who believes so is either politically naive or complicit. Thalatha’s real objective is not unity but to siphon off a portion of the SJB into Ranil’s fold, bolstering Anura and the JVP ahead of the local government elections. Notably, a JVP-affiliated website recently claimed that while Thalatha was sincere in her desire for unity, Ranil and Sajith were not—demonstrating the JVP’s newfound sympathy for her actions.
One of the core themes of the SJB’s 2024 presidential campaign was exposing the alleged deal between Anura and Ranil. While Anura sought to equate Ranil and Sajith as part of the same establishment, the SJB countered by highlighting the covert agreement between Anura and Ranil. Furthermore, the SJB assured the public that it would never align with the UNP, which had shielded the corrupt Rajapaksa regime. Throughout the last general election, the SJB made it clear that the contest was between Sajith and Ranil.
The election results confirmed these suspicions. During the final two weeks, Ranil focused his campaign in the North, East, and Central Hill regions—areas where Sajith was sure at least 50% of the minority vote to secure victory. Ranil, knowing he had no real chance of winning, actively sought to fragment Sajith’s support base to ensure Anura’s success. He distributed bar licenses and development funds to key minority political figures, such as leaders of the Tamil National Alliance, the Muslim Congress, Rishad Bathiudeen’s party, and Mano Ganesan’s faction, bringing them onto his platform to strategically weaken Sajith.
Ranil’s endgame was clear: once Sajith was defeated, he aimed to absorb the SJB into the UNP and reclaim his position as opposition leader. However, this strategy backfired. Now, he seeks to make the SJB bear the political burden of his two-year government and the controversial actions of Harin and Manusha.
In Sri Lanka’s political landscape today, the only party that remains untarnished is SJB. Sajith has never held the presidency or prime ministership, and aside from Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Kabir Hashim, no SJB member has served as a minister. The JVP’s 2024 campaign revolved around the claim, “We have never held power—give us a chance.” That narrative is no longer valid. While the SJB could have leveraged a similar message, their voices were stifled. If the SJB now aligns with the UNP, it too will lose the ability to champion this slogan—precisely what the JVP seeks to achieve by pushing for this merger.
