By Granville Perera –

President Rajapaksa’s attempt to re-enter high office through parliament spells doom for the fragile coalition that has evolved after the Presidential elections of 2015. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe probably doesn’t command the majority in parliament as is evident from the 114 signatories to the John Amaratunga no confidence motion presented by the UPFA. This probably is the beginning of the end of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinge’s short-lived premiership and dissolution of parliament is inevitable. A section of the SLFP and leftist parties of the UPFA would propel Mahinda Rajapaksa to make his bid for the next premiership.

Remember, President Rajapaksa is a street fighter who would not rest until he has finished you off, for being the traitor that he considers you to be, for eating his hoppers and betraying. You may both be rural boys, but the game he would play is no Elle. He knows to play only with fire when you would, at the most consider throwing a pebble.

President Rajapaksa cannot live without the pomp and pageantry of high office that he got used to during the last 10 years. He had 3000 crack commandos guarding him not because he genuinely felt the threat to his life, but like every dictator, this was his form of intimidating everyone around him. From a lovable character to a monster, is what he turned out to be during his two-term presidency, and it is not just for himself that he amassed such brutal power and wealth, but also for his entire family. The greedy Basil Rajapaksa amassed all the wealth for the family, the violent Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the most feared killer, the playboy Namal Rajapaksa had all the young chicks under his Nil Balakaya to fill his modern day harem and the trigger hungry Yoshitha Rajapaksa adorned the naval ribbons, medals, badges and pins which no other mortal could have worn in his rank and the little Chicchi brat who drove around in illegally imported best brand motor vehicles in races where no one else should win. 10 years of such pleasure cannot be given up, not because of a usurper from Polonnaruwa as he considers you to be. What he failed in his attempted coup would be achieved in the next election, unless you ensure that Sri Lanka will not have the repeat of his curse.

The casino kings, drug and ethanol dealers who thrived during his presidency would propel him to the premiership with the support of the bootlicking leftist stooges who cannot survive without the ministerial privileges they enjoyed during the last 10 years of the Rajapaksa presidency. It is disgraceful that a son of Phillip Gunawardena, the ‘Lion of Boralugoda’ (‘Boralugoda Sinhaya’) too has become a kitten in the Rajapaksa home.

The threat to the current presidency of Sirisena is real and Mahinda Rajapaksa certainly has the capacity to act decisively. His brutal ability and craving for absolute power was well exposed when he got General Sarath Fonseka arrested and carried out of his abode by petty soldiers, who would not have dared to stand in front of him only a few weeks before. What was his crime? He was harbouring deserters from the Army. Today, Mahinda Rajapaksa could be charged for harbouring a naval deserter in Yoshitha Rajapaksa. The same yardstick could be used to charge him for the same crime as Sarath Fonseka. Is president Sirisena chickening out because of the huge fear he had of his dictator, when he was Mahinda Rajapaksa’s General Secretary. No, Mr President, you wield the same powers as he did, and your firm resolve to act will save yourself from the gallows that would be in store for you, should you not act decisively.

The people of this land did not vote you because you had the ability to govern us out of the tyranny that was unleashed by the Rajapaksa clan, but because you became the symbol of change. Ranil Wickremesinghe who has the ability to get the country on the road to recovery would never have been a winner.

It is time that you pulled out the real files of the Rajapaksa clan and cleansed this country of their brutal era – for good. It is time that the platform promises of bringing the corrupt and plundering Rajapaksas’ to justice are delivered by you. Failure to act now will make you face the possibility of becoming a lame duck president held hostage by a hostile parliament under Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Even if he doesn’t win a majority, he will, with his ill gotten wealth buy over crossovers, as he did in his last term as President and make your life miserable.

Mr President, you need to make the choice of ridding the Rajapaksa plague, and not just for your sake, but for the majority of Sri Lankans’ who gave you the Presidential seat to drive away the Rajapaksa clan for ever. We pray that you will not betray us.