The stage of then-President Chandrika was bombed following the 1999 presidential election. Ranil, the presidential candidate, was tense. For the next 24 hours, state media was flooded with reports that Ranil had hired Prabhakaran to assassinate Chandrika. Ranil’s campaign team arrived the morning after the bomb exploded to meet with him. One of them was the owner of a major media company in Sri Lanka.
‘Chandrika has been advised by astrologers that even though she is lucky on the day of the presidential election, her life is in danger…’ he told Ranil.
If you ask me whether it is the two eyes or the presidency, I will choose the two eyes. The presidency is temporary. The two eyes are eternal…’ said Ranil.
That’s Ranil. Ranil is not a leader who would risk his lifestyle for politics. He always maintained a secret deal with his political enemy to ensure that there was no danger to himself or his life or his family.
SB and team who came out of Chandrika’s government in 2001 tried to break the deal between Ranil and Chandrika but it was not successful.
Mangala and Sripati tried to break the deal with Ranil and Mahinda but it was not successful.
Maithripala also made great efforts for this. But Ranil did not stop his dealings. That’s why he always thought that being the leader of the opposition was better for his body than becoming president and crushing his body.
He contested to win the 1999 presidential election. But he was defeated due to Prabhakaran’s bomb.
He contested the presidential election in 2005 to win. At that time too, he was defeated due to Prabhakaran’s vote boycott.
Subsequently, he developed a reluctance to participate in presidential elections. In 2010, he made an announcement indicating his intention to seek the presidential election, but the statement fell short of a commitment to contest. During that time, negotiations were underway between Mangala and the JVP to field a common candidate, a fact that Ranil was well aware of. Despite this, he pressed for the presidential election primarily to secure the position of prime minister. Interestingly, he did not impede the negotiation process with Mahinda. Fearing potential repercussions from Mahinda if he were to emerge victorious, Ranil clandestinely met with Gotabhaya in the midst of the presidential election to ensure his own safety. Realizing that he wouldn’t secure the position of Prime Minister from Fonseka, he abruptly withdrew support from Fonseka in the middle of the presidential election.
On multiple occasions, he publicly expressed his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election, well aware of ongoing international discussions about nominating a common candidate. During this period, he engaged in a strategy reminiscent of Fonseka’s approach before his own presidential bid. Prior to Maithripala’s selection as the common candidate, he strategized the elimination of the executive presidential system, positioning himself as the executive prime minister. He later assumed the role of prime minister before a parliamentary general election and thereafter dedicated himself wholeheartedly to supporting Maithripala.
He stated that he will run for president in 2019 more than once. When the party nominated Sajith as its candidate, he did not intervene in the game of gaining the position of Prime Minister under Sajith. However, he kept the agreement with Mahinda during the presidential election. He knew Sajith, who bore his and Maithri’s sins, would lose, and his strategy was to put an end to Sajith’s politics after his defeat.
He refused to nominate a common candidate from his party in 2010 and 2014. His greatest fear was that the party’s common candidate, whether he won or lost, would become the party’s leader. However, in 2019, he lacked the authority to impose that condition. The candidate’s name was Sajith. When Sajith was defeated, the party recognised him as its leader.
Ranil, who was afraid to contest for the presidential election when there were 30 to 35 lakh votes, will he contest now with two lakh …?’
He will express his interest in running for the presidency only if the Podujana Peramuna decides to nominate him as their candidate. If the party does not put him forward, he will retire after completing his term. During his exit, he will be entitled to the privileges afforded to a retiring president. A leader who has held the presidential position is reluctant to risk a defeat by securing fewer votes. This fear was evident in Wijetunga in 1994 and Maithri in 2019, both of whom were hesitant to contest the presidential election. Despite UNP having 4 million votes, Wijetunga was apprehensive. Similarly, even with 1.2 million votes for the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, Maithri was uneasy. Currently, Ranil holds two lakh votes.
The defeated UNP candidates and MPs who switched from the Samagi Janabalawegaya and secured ministerial positions are pushing for Ranil to be the presidential candidate more fervently than Ranil himself. In the event of the country’s president running for a presidential election, it is customary for the party’s working committee to convene, deliberate, and formally announce the decision. Broadcasting news after a mere gathering of two or three individuals declaring Ranil as the presidential candidate is a lack of respect towards him. The official announcement should ideally come from the Presidential Media Wing, upholding the UNP’s tradition of nominating presidential candidates. Despite this tradition, the disappointed UNP ministers are anxious and uncertain, unable to fathom the consequences if Ranil opts out of the presidential election. This fear has driven them to manipulate the media, spreading news since Ranil assumed the role of Prime Minister in 2022.
’20 will break through the united people force’
‘A shift in the 2023 budget’
‘A major breakthrough in the 2024 budget’
‘Harsha, Eran to U.N.P.’
‘Sajith is not contesting for the presidential election’
‘Ranil-Sajith join forces’
‘Sajith will not form the alliance of freedom’
’70 in the bud to Ranil’
Ranil has been president for two years, still a few months away. But none of this news has come true.
‘Minority parties to Ranil’
‘Samagi Jana Balavega MPs who do not want to reveal their names to Ranil’s presidential campaign’
People are now sick after hearing about these news plants. Sajith has already collected a number of members of the Podujana Peramuna. Apart from Vadivel Suresh of estates, Ranil has not yet been able to get a single MP from Samagi Jana Balavega or Podujana Peramuna to join U.N.P. Vadivel Suresh also left after Samagi Jana Balavega removed him from the party. When Chaminda Wijesiri left, the media jumped on saying that one of our plants had come right. But he praised Sajith and went home.
‘Why is that…?’
Because there is no one who does not know, that Ranil’s government is not running on the oil of the people, but on the oil of the media.