{"id":131296,"date":"2014-10-05T00:02:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-04T18:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=131296"},"modified":"2014-10-12T10:16:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T04:46:52","slug":"the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inflation Of Sajith Premadasa"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Dayan Jayatilleka<\/span><\/a> in an article titled \u2018The Uva effect and the Presidency\u2019 argues against the UNP fielding Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> as its presidential candidate in a repeat of the 2005 face-off with Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 He has, with the use of a few important statistics, shot down the notion of a UNP resurgence that some commentators have seen in the Uva result. While offering that the UNP does not have anyone who could best Rajapaksa, Dayan offers that it is possible score moral-points even in a defeat if the gap is narrowed. In short, Dayan argues that Ranil will not deliver even this consolation prize.<\/p>\n

No one needs to break a sweat to show that Ranil wouldn\u2019t have much of a chance against Mahinda, but it\u2019s a point that has to be made and Dayan makes it. He then proceeds to the more important question: \u2018If not Ranil, then who?\u2019\u00a0 He proposes two names, Sajith Premadasa<\/span><\/a> and Karu Jayasuriya<\/span><\/a>, but subtly drops the latter in a concluding question regarding the second preferential vote (which would come into the equation should the winner fail to secure 50% + 1 votes).\u00a0 He asks, \u2018for example, who can secure the second preference vote of those who will vote for Anura Kumara<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Mahinda, Ranil or Sajith?\u2019<\/p>\n

The arguments offered to support a Sajith Premadasa candidacy are rather spurious.\u00a0 \u2018Youth!\u2019 is one.\u00a0 The gains made by the JVP after the \u2018young\u2019 Anura Kumara became party leader and the impetus that Harin Fernando gave the UNP in Uva are cited as evidence.\u00a0 Those arrows are easy to draw but outcomes emerge from the operation of multiple factors not just age of particular individuals.\u00a0 What works for the JVP does not necessarily work for the UNP.\u00a0 Harin is young, but more importantly he showed courage, a sense of sacrifice for the larger good of the party, innovation and spirit, none of which are the preserve of the young.<\/p>\n

\"Sajith\"<\/a>It is, as Dayan says, about the man. To an extent. He employs the classic mislead \u2013 \u2018what if?\u2019: what if Maithripala Senanayake or Vijaya Kumaratunga had taken on J.R. Jayewardene<\/span><\/a> in 1982 instead of Hector Kobbekaduwa?\u00a0 Well, Senanayake was 66 at the time (Ranil is 65) and Vijaya, although just 37, had lost Katana in the UNP landslide of 1977.\u00a0 In 1983 he was roughed up in Mahara and lost the by-election.\u00a0 This record doesn\u2019t give reasons to get excited by the what-if proposition.<\/p>\n

Dayan makes much of a single observation<\/span><\/a> made by a reporter in Uva \u2013 \u2018The crowd went wild when \u201cPunchi Premadasa\u201d arrived\u2019.\u00a0 Well, tagging the young man\u2019s dad might be construed as evidence of the writer\u2019s outcome preferences, but even if that weren\u2019t so, it is well known that Sajith moves with a cheering squad.\u00a0 It is also well known that it is two media houses (one radio\/tv and the other newspapers) and not the rank and file of the UNP that has been inflating Sajith\u2019s image.\u00a0 They have attacked Ranil Wickremesinghe mercilessly and shown absolute disregard of all ethics in attacking Karu Jayasuriya.\u00a0\u00a0 Is the UNP so poor that it has to pick a man this beholden to people with absolutely no scruples when it comes to media machinations?<\/p>\n

Sajith is not a party unifier.\u00a0 His methods are divisive.\u00a0 He has demonstrated this many times.\u00a0 He fought hard to oust Ranil with Dayasiri Jayasekera, but at the end of the day ensured that Dayasiri was humiliated without himself being harmed one bit.\u00a0 When he showed up in Passara without having lifted one finger to help Harin or the party, he snubbed Karu Jayasuriya, a man whom he, Sajith, once said should replace Ranil.\u00a0 He did this even after Karu, who has every reason to be peeved at Sajith\u2019s underhand moves (with his media pals), showed much grace in his response to Sajith\u2019s \u2018return\u2019.<\/p>\n

If it is just about unity, then Karu Jayasuriya is the man.\u00a0 He is as much or more a nationalist than Sajith.\u00a0 He has national stature. He can, for many reasons, attract support from a wider political spectrum.\u00a0 He has a better chance of getting the second preference vote of those who pick Anura Kumara (let\u2019s not forget that Sajith\u2019s father presided over the decimation of the JVP in the late eighties).<\/p>\n

Dayan is right when he says that Ranil has a lot of baggage.\u00a0 A Mahinda-Ranil face-off will beg for a \u2018Hero vs Traitor\u2019 poster (and we can trust such a line to be picked in the down-n-dirty of our political culture) in the way it was not possible in 2010.\u00a0 Neither Sajith nor Karu can be targeted in that manner, Dayan is right. But would Dayan say that Sajith has no skeletons in his cupboard?\u00a0 Would he say that Karu has secrets that might embarrass him?<\/p>\n

The UNP is not exactly enjoying a pre-victory party right now.\u00a0 It is struggling to remain politically coherent.\u00a0 The last thing it needs is to be sidetracked by a political red herring.\u00a0\u00a0 It is easy to pick one particular factor that makes one particular candidate look good and say \u2018He\u2019s the most handsome guy around,\u2019 but that\u2019s cheap politicking. Sajith has the age-edge but little else.\u00a0 Karu has other advantages, but perhaps he has different negatives.\u00a0 Selectivity doesn\u2019t help.\u00a0 If that\u2019s the name of the game, then a cogent argument can be made for Ranil too.<\/p>\n

The UNP needs to be sober.\u00a0 The party as a whole has to be wary of the praise and blame dished out by backers of this or that person.\u00a0 That\u2019s if it doesn\u2019t want the next presidential election to be yet another cakewalk for Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Inflation Of Sajith Premadasa - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Inflation Of Sajith Premadasa - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-04T18:32:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-12T04:46:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-inflation-of-sajith-premadasa\/\",\"name\":\"The Inflation Of Sajith Premadasa - 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