{"id":205959,"date":"2019-11-01T15:10:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T09:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=205959"},"modified":"2019-11-05T03:20:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T21:50:10","slug":"is-premadasa-committing-hara-kiri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/is-premadasa-committing-hara-kiri\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Premadasa Committing Hara-Kiri?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/b>Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> –<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Amrit Muttukumaru<\/p><\/div>\n

Sajith Premadasa being proposed albeit reluctantly at the last minute as UNP presidential candidate by UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe gave a turbo boost to an otherwise boring one-horse presidential race where former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s brother and former defense secretary\u00a0 <\/span>Gotabaya Rajapaksa was by far the front-runner. Wickremesinghe was compelled to do so after realizing the overwhelming support Premadasa had attracted at his several rallies. The same applies to Wickremesinghe\u2019s cronies who now scream \u2018Jayaweva\u2019!<\/p>\n

In the context of Wickremesinghe \u2018stock\u2019 in the country and among a vast majority of the UNP faithful perceived to be at an all time low, is it not imprudent<\/b> for Premadasa to ALLOW himself to be identified strongly with Wickremesinghe to the extent that voters are led to believe that he will continue as Prime Minister under a Premadasa presidency even if the UNP forms the government after a general election next year? Wickremesinghe himself is going out of his way to reinforce<\/b> this belief. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest was at the press conference a few days ago at \u2018Temple Tree\u2019 where he explicitly confirmed <\/b>he will remain as PM under a Premadasa presidency next year<\/b>.\u00a0 <\/span>This assertion has been given PROMINENT <\/b>media coverage for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n