By Shyamon Jayasinghe –
Shyamon Jayasinghe
“The first thing about election campaigning is to sense your enemy and their tactics. Sajith and his campaigners were in blissful ignorance of the sinister moves of the opposition.”
Hole
Never, ever, known as adept in strategic thinking, Sajith Premadasa seems to be getting himself into a deeper and deeper hole.
Presidential Campaign
Sajith’s whole Prez election campaign exhibited folly in strategic play. He grabs nomination leaving a bad taste in the mouths of decent UNPers. Making Tissa Attanayake as campaign leader, Sajith runs a campaign outside Sirikotha’s direction and avoids enlisting Sirikotha leaders. Tissa Attanayake is a proven political failure who betrayed the UNP leader at the 2015 Presidential election campaign by joining the Rajapaksas just at the time he shouldn’t have. Tissa was charged in court for allegedly announcing a forged document purportedly made by Ranil Wickremesinghe about the latter’s alleged links with the TNA. Ranil had the grace and generosity to forgive Tissa in court and have the latter acquitted.
The campaign in progress, Sajith Premadasa is alleged to have openly told the leader not to come anywhere near his election meetings but to focus on the Tamil/Muslim areas.Towards the middle of the campaign, Sajith openly announces he “will get rid of Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM when he becomes Prez.” He adds that many ministers would also be removed. All this he said, unaware that the Prez has no such power under the 19th Amendment. Many UNPers in the island were dismayed by all these senseless utterances that meant something like spitting upward in the air.
Flattened
The upshot was that Sajith Premadasa was flattened at the elections in a disgraceful manner. If not for the leader’s campaigning in North and East, Sajith would have hit somewhere near 25 lakhs of votes. The net result of all these follies was that the top post was handed over to Gota on a platter! Even before the results were complete, Sajith Premadasa rang Gota to congratulate him; perhaps to show the public what a gentleman he was! As is clear from the above, all along Sajith was no gentleman in politics. He was driven by “Ranil hate.” I know many of his close backers, such as a young relative of mine, who are all Ranil Haters.
Sajith never touched Gota during his campaign and hardly smelt the nationalist/racist feelings at grassroots being built up by Gota’s campaigners. The Rajapaksa battalion went from temple to temple making false claims regarding the MCC and Hambantota agreements. The first thing about election campaigning is to sense your enemy and their tactics. Sajith and his campaigners were in blissful ignorance of all these sinister developments. Sajith continued campaigning making crazy, populist promises harking back to the dreadful days of Sirimavo Bandaranaike when rice was promised from the moon. It was clear that Sajith Premadasa had been clueless and that he had, actully, learnt nothing from political history.
Shifting Blame
Instead of making an intelligent assessment on why he was defeated, Sajith went on to shift the blame at the door of Sirikotha and its leader.
A prominent business leader in Sydney who had gone to help Sajith all through during his campaign, returned disillusioned. The latter exclaimed that Sajith ‘had no appeal.’ Added: ‘Sajith is a good orator but he is no leader.’ Oratory is crtically needed in political campaigning. However, that oratory must contain a firing substance that touches the nerves of listeners.
Present
Come parliamentary elections, and Sajith keeps attacking the leader; now trying hard to oust him. He should know that according to the UNP constitution, in line with similar other global party constitutions, the leader and the woking Committee take the key decisions. Political parties, world over, are essentially oligarchies; never micro democracies. I, once, had to correct Eran Wickremaratne who had complained that there was no democracy in the UNP. Sajith disregards this reality and keeps fighting, like Don Quixote chasing windmills! He childishly protests over the removal from the Working Committee of cantankerous substances like Ajith Perera.
Having failed in the impossibility of ousting the leader, Sajith nows tries to create another party to win parliamentary elections. He will realise that the gravity of power will move swiftly toward the leader and the official UNP. What is worse, Premadasa doesn’t realise that Sirisena is a huge liability to any political formation. Even Pohottuwa is avoiding Sirisena but Sajith tries to rope in for his new ‘party.’ Rotter though he is, even Maitripala Sirisena will eventually shift away (maaru weyi) as there is one thing that Sirisena understands and that is politics.
What a mess!
kebab / February 9, 2020
[edited out]
The question is not whether Premadasa is good.I am sure he will also prove to be a failure like everybody else since DS Senanayake. By the way, he is also a Royalist who goes for the cricket match and sings Baila ! [edited out]
But the question is should Ranil stay ? After all his defeats, (more than 30 times rejected by the people)after making the UNP such a failure, the humongous corruption he is identified with, after declaring that he will only remain a leader and will not face elections( he will not win anyway)-you still want him ! Until when ? [edited out]
The only hope for the UNP is to open up and democratise the party. Let leaders come and go (like in Australia[edited out]). That way one day the UNP will find a good leader. But this drooping old humbug of a leader must go.
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ajith / February 9, 2020
kebab,
There is no doubt Ranil do not have the power to lead a political party. He is a looser and he should give up his leadership. Ranil is part of Mahinda Family. There should be a democratic process with high standards at regular intervals by party members.
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Anonymous / February 10, 2020
Sajith Premadasa Is a Mahinda Rajapaksas mole… His choice to work with Tissa Attanayake should have made this clear as day but our below 79% IQ idiots are so easy to fool! Most of the UNP are blindly following SP!!
Coalition Government can still fix this before it’s too late by making Karu Jayasuriya the head of the Coalition…
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Real Revolutionist / February 9, 2020
Sajith is the choice of less educated mass
Keep him aside
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Karu Gamage / February 9, 2020
“Sajith Premadas’s Is In A Hole” Saimon says!
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So what is news?
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He us obvious;y following his leader, the ‘holes’ man.
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soma / February 9, 2020
Sajith is an empty vessel. Ranil is a crafty fox.
Vote for Pohottuwa.
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Soma
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Native Vedda / February 10, 2020
somass
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“Sajith is an empty vessel.”
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So is Gota.
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“Ranil is a crafty fox.”
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Mahinda likes to think himself as one.
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“Vote for Pohottuwa.”
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Get the entire clan in the parliament, state institutions, ……
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Explain to us what Mahinda is doing on his begging mission to Hindia?
What did Mahinda mean when he said “If India agrees to postpone debt by 3 years, we can convince others too” in an interview to Hindu (FEBRUARY 09, 2020).
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Could you find the most unhappy Shenali Waduge to interpret in her own Sinhala/Buddhist word what Mahinda meant when he begged Hindia to postpone debt by 3 years.
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Note Hindians do not have toilets.
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Saman / February 10, 2020
Soma…You are the empty vessel.
Shame on you
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JD / February 9, 2020
I don’t know why Sinhala Buddhist Supremacists in Sri Lanka are so lucky to have this kind of political Leaders. Every one in UNP reflects it’s Leader. He never give up stay like a leech. He is very silent and he comes out to fool voters for another time.
Anyway, I remember as the UNP Leader is not leaving since 2001 for three times, there was mass migration UNP politikkas to SLFP alliances.
Oh, what will happen to free Tampon case. Did Sri lankan women have anything to wear before this offer. Is he a unique politician or just growing up like his Leader. I heard, mangala wanted to give a contract to one of his friendly firms.
I say, Sajith is the best Leader. He is the one who promised most free goodies. Santaclause would have come by the right time, only if he won.
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JD / February 9, 2020
We have bunch of rogues. People have to say which rogue is the least hazardous. Ranjan said what Ranil would do to Sinhala Buddhists, if he WERE to be the president. Even though Tissa Attanayake is persona non grata in the Ranil -faction of UNP, he got a Diplomat post in Australia for his daughter. I think she is still there.
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Spring Koha / February 9, 2020
Even long before nomination day, you knew that it was all going to end in tears. It was clear that Sajith, even after all years, hadn’t a bloody clue how to conduct a nationwide election. It was a walkover for Gota the Enforcer. Nobody talks about his nationality anymore. Ultimately, the people decided to hell with that, Gota is the one who will keep us safe in these difficult times. Poor Ranil, he has been through many a twist and turn but he is besotted with being the nearly man. He missed his big chance in 2005 because of a strategic error, ever since then he has been happy to be Mr Next Best. What is it with our aging politicians that they cannot retire gracefully, ride off into the sunset, and maybe write an honest memoir?
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Native Vedda / February 10, 2020
Spring Koha
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“Poor Ranil, he has been through many a twist and turn but he is besotted with being the nearly man.”
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Ranil being foxy almost all his life, would have decided to quit from visible politics for the time being, so that Mahinda/Gota clan could further mess the economy and politics in a big way, as a result he must be hoping the clan to become unpopular as happened in Weeping Widows reign between 1970 – 1977.
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Now it is time for Mahinda/Gota to share the shame.
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How long do you think the clan can survive on a staple diet of racism, bravado, ridiculous idea of being a strongman, repeatedly christening this island being Buddhist country, war winning glory …… with deeply entrenched inertia among political parties, politicians, state functionaries, ………………. state institutions, and people?
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Better Noire / February 9, 2020
KEBAB. The issue here is not whether the leader should stay. The party will look after that and not you guys who go marketing for the Rajapakse’s.
How dis Ranil lose 30 times? You must be seeing hallucinations. The stats we have is that Ranil had become PM five times- a record. He lost only two Presidential elections.
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S. C. Pasqual / February 10, 2020
Mr. Batter Noire,
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Good.
General election will be on April 25, 27 or 28.
That is on the first year anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombs.
Very last election campaigns to be held on the same day.
Let’s bring RW on stage.
Good luck people.
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Jeb / February 9, 2020
Everything has a use by date. As far as the UNP goes, its use by date ended with the assignation Gamini Dissanayake. Not even someone like Barrak Obama can revive the UNP. Its gone just like the SLFP. Next to go will be the JVP. New parties will emerge to fill the void.
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Raj-UK / February 9, 2020
I may be mistaken but didn’t Premadasa jnr said he was stepping down from politics after his Presidential defeat? Anyway, he may have decided to remain in politics due to popular demand to save the UNP from RW’s autocratic leadership or even lead SL to prosperity some time in the future. Whatever his reasons, ‘Pohottuwa’ has no credible opposition in the forthcoming elections with the power struggle within the UNP instigated by the upstart, Premadasa jnr.
I accept RW was a great disappointment. He had his chance several times but he never seemed to learn. Loss of faith in party leadership is nothing new. In UK, party leaders have graciously stepped in face of defeat or forced out by party members. Even Margret Thatcher, considered as one of the toughest PMs in the history of UK, was forced to step down, so it is up to the UNP party members to force RW to step down & appoint a new leader. If Premadasa jnr was impatient during the run up to Presidential elections, he could have broken away & started his own party, just like SWRD & MR in the past, instead of creating a rebellion. Naturally, a division within the party at a crucial period was a disaster & lessons don’t seem to have been learnt even now.
Premadasa jnr was riding on his old man’s wave of popularity among the village voters & despite his LSE education & apprenticeship at the White House, his political rhetoric remained the same as his old man’s & I was unimpressed. Under SP’s leadership. there will be a different set of thugs, crooks & yobs, the same wine in a different bottle. Nothing changes when it comes to the gravy train of politics in SL.
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JD / February 9, 2020
I do not think none in the parliament is ready to step down. They all want to one get onto a wheel chair and serve the country. Then fall down inside the parliament so that they a funeral with presidential or govt what ever.
Sajith also abandoned Hambanthota. He will contest Kolonnawa, I think.
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S. C. Pasqual / February 10, 2020
Mr. Raj-UK,
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Let’s appoint GR as custodian leader of UNP for the time being.
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Shrikharan / February 9, 2020
Come on let’s face it. Everyone in the UNP is much senior to the newcomer Gotapaya. He did not have a single day’s experience in politics. The SLPP he represented had never faced any election and this was the first election that new party SLPP faced. Still, Gotapaya Rajapakse won hands down. He won handsomely. UNP can try to coalesce with other parties to oppose Gotapaya Rajapakse, that will never work as what we saw when UNP Ranil Wickremasinghe and Maithripala joined to oust Mahinda Rajapakse and they won with a small majority but there was lot of infighting with the Ranil faction and Maithripala faction and the government never got off the ground. Now we know the coalitions never works.
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Shrikharan / February 9, 2020
Come on let’s face it. Everyone in the UNP is much senior to the newcomer Gotapaya. He did not have a single day’s experience in politics. The SLPP he represented had never faced any election and this was the first election that new party SLPP faced. Still, Gotapaya Rajapakse won hands down. He won handsomely. UNP can try to coalesce with other parties to oppose Gotapaya Rajapakse, that will never work as what we saw when UNP Ranil Wickremasinghe and Maithripala joined to oust Mahinda Rajapakse and they won with a small majority but there was lot of infighting with the Ranil faction and Maithripala faction and the government never got off the ground. Now we know the coalitions never work.
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Good Sense / February 10, 2020
I am not a card carrying member of the UNP, nor do I claim that the color of my blood is green but I believe that whatever be the drawbacks of every political party, the UNP must be in the mainstream politics, either in Government or in Opposition to do its part in the Sri Lankan politics. The voters in Sri Lanka must have a choice (Alas! Any choice can be a vote for Kleptocracy!) and therefore in that context no party in the mainstream should be allowed to die entirely due to internal squabbles. Many UNPers I know, claim that there is no one to beat Ranil as a leader but the popular appeal is the question mark. That was the issue bugging many of the green boys in trying to find a suitable person as a Presidential candidate. They believe that Ranil could have done much better in the “Yahapalana Government” and the involvement with an Arjuna Mahendran was a huge loss. Some of them claim that Ranil should have bowed down and place a maximum of 20 years as ceiling for duration of leadership. My position as a normal voter is that all political parties especially in the mainstream must have sober leaders, well-seasoned. Sri Lanka, perhaps will never get political leaders of the caliber of say Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake, Hon. Dudley Senanayake or Hon. SWRD Bandaranaike. But since the subject matters is Sajith, his application to politics and the UNP leadership I should say that he has a lot to learn and show maturity. The man, 53 years Young (not Old!), must reflect on himself and ask the basic question, IS HE A PATCH OF HIS FATHER?. If not, he has to acquire the requisite skills and maturity.
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Lak DeSilva / February 10, 2020
Sajith has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning any election in the foreseeable future. Ranil doesn’t even have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning any election. In fact any UNP leader associated to Yahapalanaya fraud does not have any chance at all. Can anyone point to an election won anywhere in the world by a party whose main platform is prosecuting the majority community/religion and armed forces of the country? Only reason reason why Yahapalanaya frauds won that election was they did a bait and switch hiding behind Gamarala’s sarong!
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Nizam / February 10, 2020
What a joke of an article. A well known bootlicker of the BIGGEST LOSER in the history of Srilankan politics is trying to pick holes in Sajith politics. The Day the, eternal loser RW being thrown into the political dustbin is fast approaching. So the few bootlickers who are left around RW (like Shaymon jayasingha) will do anything to keep the eternal loser in power for a few more years – very likely at the behest of another big crook – Mahinda Rajapaksha. RW has been having underhand dealings with the Rajapakshas for years to protect his position in the UNP. However, the UNP membership and the general public are fed up of RW and his bootlickers. As seen by the events of the past few weeks, the UNP working committee which was totally manipulated by RW, is toothless. RW is no longer relevant.
The SLPP will very likely win the upcoming elections. However, thanks to the new generation of UNPers (Sajith, Harin, Kabir, Sarath fonseka, etc) they will be denied a 2/3 majority. Once RW is no longer relevant in the UNP and loses the opposition leadership for every, the new look opposition will very likely give a tough fight to the SLPP and hold the accountable. Then all these bootlicking jokers like Shaymon, will have only one option – to join their true masters – the rajapakshas.
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D. P. / February 10, 2020
Shyamon,
The sad reality with your camp (Ranil’s camp) is that it is now left only with the sign board, the party constitution & a handful of lonely corrupt deal makers! It is your side in “A..” hole; not the side of Sajith. I personally do value Ranil’s vision for the country. It is only his double game of making secret deal with corrupt MaRa clan while lying to party about it that I can’t approve. Unlike with MaRa who wins loyalty via a corrupt patron/client relationship with his loyalists, UNP loyalists don’t owe anything to Ranil but the expectation of being honest & visionary.
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Can Sajith pull it off for long haul, I can’t predict b’cos only a miracle would help even the most talented political leader to carry out a rapid economic recovery plan without putting a significant weight on the public. GoRa has already messed up the decent recovery set in motion by Ranil. GoRa’s financial plan has already gone so bad that MaRa is now begging India to defer loans at least by one year. The negative effect of coronavirus on tourism & related businesses will linger a lot longer than the damage from the Easter bombing. Under these circumstances Gvt has no choice but to return to the pre-GoRa tax scheme. This will be the biggest challenge for Sajith if win the parliament.
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D. P. / February 10, 2020
Shyamon,
The sad reality with your camp (Ranil’s camp) is that it is now left only with the sign board, the party constitution & a handful of lonely corrupt deal makers! It is your side in “A..” hole; not the side of Sajith. I personally do value Ranil’s vision for the country. It is only his double game of making secret deal with corrupt MaRa clan while lying to party about it that I can’t approve. Unlike with MaRa who wins loyalty via a corrupt patron/client relationship with his loyalists, UNP loyalists don’t owe anything to Ranil but the expectation of being honest & visionary. Once that trust is destroyed, Ranil become an invalid coin.
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Can Sajith pull it off for long haul, I can’t predict b’cos only a miracle would help even the most talented political leader to carry out a rapid economic recovery plan without putting a significant weight on the public. GoRa has already messed up the decent recovery set in motion by Ranil. GoRa’s financial plan has already gone so bad that MaRa is now begging India to defer loans at least by one year. The negative effect of coronavirus on tourism & related businesses will linger a lot longer than the damage from the Easter bombing. Under these circumstances Gvt has no choice but to return to the pre-GoRa tax scheme. This will be the biggest challenge for Sajith if win the parliament.
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Renu / February 10, 2020
Sajith must get rid of Attanayake who never had a mass backing even when he was Genera secretary of the UNP . There few more guys who should not be entertained if he is to pose a threat to anyone in the future elections
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bimal / February 10, 2020
Having lost the Prez elections after announcing to media he would “easily” win that, and after losing his own seat Sajith has the cheek to try and oust the leader.
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Renu / February 10, 2020
Sajith must get rid of Attanayake who never had a mass backing even when he was Genera secretary of the UNP . There few more guys who should not be entertained if he is to pose a threat to anyone in the future elections . Never entertain the Gamarala again
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suranj / February 10, 2020
this editor is reporting lies and a henchman of Ranil / Mangala combination
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kali / February 10, 2020
Who cares whether Sajith or UNP is in a hole. Sri Lanka under Gotha is in a shit hole. Look at MRs trip to India sugar coated as a high level talk by a low level PM. Nothing to show except asking India to extend the repayment of the massive loan by 3 years and extend House building to the South after China has been booted out. In fact India muscled in to encroach by forcing MR to invite so that it doesnt look as an invasion just like JR was forced to invite IPKF
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Prem Vaidyaratne / February 11, 2020
The writer has been very frank and candid in showing up the disastrous mess that Sajith Premadasa and his faction has created. From the very start, these guys kept bulldozing their way in true Kehelwatte style. Now they want to change the sacred elephant symbol, which is the icon of the Grand Old Party. If Ranil cannot control the toxic elements in his party and ask them to go on and form another party it would be a tragic future for the United National Party. These Kehelwatte faction have zero credentials in politics. They lost the Presidential elections after a licking. Sajith himself and all his club lost their own seats. Sajith went hiding for two weeks and he received counselling. Now he is back. Isn’t it a bloody joke that these characters keep demanding the pound of flesh. Isn’t is comical that Ranil is letting all these by?
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Raj / February 11, 2020
Kali, You say “JR was forced to invite IPKF”. True. Then, what happened?
IPKF killed and mimed half of the LTTE, and raped a great deal of Tigresses and teenage Tamil girls in the north and east. The young kids who witnessed these inhuman acts are even today mentally unstable and sick; there is no help from anyone including the Tamil diaspora because their aim is to revive the LTTE which is a dead horse now.
The LTTE was then used by the SL government as a cat’s paw to take revenge from India; they supplied arms and ammunition to Tigers and made them kill or mime the IPKF. They did a good job and the final net result was: over 1600 Indian soldiers, (including several majors, and commanders) killed and over 3600 permanently disabled. Go see the IPKF memorial in Colombo for details with their names.
Rajiv Gandhi who made the above ‘forced invitation’ to JR was also among the dead.
Then Sri Lankans invited a Southerner called Mahinda Rajapaksa to deal with the Tigers; he did a surprisingly interesting job that even Western countries could not believe. Even today the West is trying to find out how he did it in no time.
Therefore, the forced invitation was not bad! Was it?
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Maurice Perera / February 11, 2020
I agree with Prem Vaidyaratne. What is going on is Kehelwatte Koluwa’s thuggery. Sajith should be kicked out along with his ar…se lickers like Ajith Perera, Sujeewa Semasinghe etc. Mangala is already back with the UNP. Sajith cuts a poor figure walking out at WC meetings when he wants. If anything he requests is not granted this idiot walks out. Kili Maharajah funds the Kehelwatte gang
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Thanga / February 11, 2020
Sajith Premadasa is immatured and behaves like a school student. He is a man in a hurry. How can he win the election when he was fighting with the leader of the UNP at every turn? He insulted him by ditching him the chance to speak at the inaugural meeting of the release of UNP manifesto. His only qualification is that he is the son of President Premadasa. If Wickremesinghe is a loser, so is Sajith. He lost his own electorate to SLPP. That should have given him food for thought. He did not. Humility should be the hallmark of a leader. In Parliament, he never spoke on burning issues faced by the people. He never or seldom attended cabinet meetings. Instead, he spent time in parks. Wickremesinghe is accused as a serial loser at the polls. He would have won the 2005 elections if not for the LTTE. The LTTE took a huge bribe – Rs.500 million – from Rajapaksa (the cheque was drawn by the Central Bank and handed over to Elil Kanthan proxy of LTTE. What went wrong with Wickremesinghe was his attempt to shield Arjuna Mahendra. Instead of firing him he took him as his economic advisor. He increased the salary of public servants and pensioners which helped to bankrupt the Treasury. Thirdly, he allowed the import of luxury vehicles to MPs, Provincial Councillors, Doctors and even some lawyers. All these showed he is not on common ground with the peasants and ordinary people who toil all day to survive.
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Percy Mayadunne / February 12, 2020
Sajith’s slogan was :”Gota President;Sajith PM.” Behind Sajith and his little Kehelwatte gang is Kili Maharajah. SP wanted the party leadership so that he could negotiate for a national govt with Gota and Kili can develop his failing investments. The assumption is that Mahinda will fall back this time with his corrupt gang.
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