{"id":146937,"date":"2015-07-04T11:52:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T06:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=146937"},"modified":"2015-07-10T23:51:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T18:21:44","slug":"the-bluff-is-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bluff Is Called!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By R.A. Ratwatte<\/span><\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"R.A.Ratwatte\"<\/a>

R.A.Ratwatte<\/p><\/div>\n

All the drama about \u201cwill he won\u2019t he\u201d is now over. He will and he has, President Sirisena has been compelled to give nomination to Ex President Mahinda Rajapaksa from the UPFA (the coalition that has a majority in parliament) for the forthcoming general election.<\/p>\n

Whilst a loud cry of AIYO SIRISENA ! Will be emanating from certain quarters, there could also be another \u201ctake\u201d on this. Rajapaksa and his cohorts have been making loud noises about how they can win if given nomination. Now the bluff is called. Nomination is given and the voter of this Country will decide. That after all is what democracy is about isn\u2019t it? It also reverts to an underlying principle or judgement on democracy that says \u201ca Country will get the government or governance that it deserves\u201d.<\/p>\n

What seat will he contest? Will this lead to further dissatisfaction among the UPFA or SLFP ranks? It is presumed that Hambantota the major Bastian (in the eyes of the family) of Rajapaksa power will be contested by the Son. If not it could lead to a split in the family! Presumably a \u201csafe\u201d seat either Ratnapura or if Ego dictates Anuradhapura (neighbouring seat of the incumbent president) may be chosen. If so what about those who have worked those seats all their lives and in most cases murdered to retain them? These murderers and unprincipled rogues will have to be placated and more compromise and money will have to be exchanged. Meanwhile the populace will watch on!<\/p>\n

\"Mahinda<\/a>A masterstroke in meticulous planning by Ranil Wickremesinghe and his think tank has been spotted. Knowing the inherent intelligence or is it cunning, of the planners it may be presumed that this counter stroke would also have been anticipated and another measure would be in place, That measure could be a real \u201cfalling out among thieves\u201d when decisions have to be made by those who have been bluffing about how they plan to practically carry out their plans to bring about this dream of theirs. This dream to continue mis – governance, catcherism and corruption.<\/p>\n

It is sometimes inadvisable to push desperate people too far. The gun culture that is never too far away from them could result in assassinations and deaths of irreplaceable leaders. We have seen this before and suffered for many years as a result.<\/p>\n

After all the very existence and almost certainly the freedom of the Rajapaksa contingent depends on the decisions that have to be made over the next few days. If they can con the populace to give them enough votes they can make an attempt to drag out the various charges that are against them for long enough for them to be lost in time.<\/p>\n

This reminds me of how average citizen Joe keeps buying a Lotto ticket each week and dreaming until the day of the Lotto draw, what is going to do with the millions he will win. When he doesn\u2019t he has to buy another ticket and dream again…. it keeps him going and keeps him out of mischief.<\/p>\n

The Rajapaksa dreamers have to contend with President Sirisena, should they pull off a \u201cLotto win\u201d and between the incumbent president, Ranil Wickremesinghe and others who stand for GOOD in our Country, an intelligent and educated voter base and all the Devas\u2019 I am confident that \u201cRaja Bhavthu Dhammiko<\/em>\u201d will prevail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":137369,"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-146937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bluff Is Called! - 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-bluff-is-called\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bluff Is Called! - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-04T06:22:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-10T18:21:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Rajitha-Ratwatte-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"244\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"314\" \/>\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=\"3 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-bluff-is-called\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/\",\"name\":\"The Bluff Is Called! - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Rajitha-Ratwatte-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-04T06:22:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-10T18:21:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bluff-is-called\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Rajitha-Ratwatte-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Rajitha-Ratwatte-1.jpg\",\"width\":244,\"height\":314,\"caption\":\"R.A. 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