By The SLPP faced two rather seismic tremors recently. First up, two of its big shots jumped ship to back Ranil Wickremesinghe for President.
One of them, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, the All Island National Convenor, made quite the entrance to this drama. Just a few days ago, he led a motorcade to Wariyamankanda in Bandaragama, cruising in on a motorcycle without a number plate, no less. Once there, at the Nirmala Hotel, he dropped his bombshell. He recalled how his mother had once commanded him not to return home unless he supported Mahinda Rajapaksa in a previous election. This time around, Mama Dearest has issued another stern edict: back Wickremesinghe or don’t bother coming home. And there you have it—key political strategy courtesy of motherly advice. Despite this, Abeygunawardena still found time to cozy up at the SLPP politburo meeting, rubbing shoulders with the party’s top brass as they debated who to throw into the presidential ring.
Then there’s Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi, who announced on Thursday that after a little chit-chat with her constituents in Ratnapura, she too had seen the light and would be supporting Wickremesinghe. All this while still clinging to her role as the SLPP’s Treasurer and sitting pretty at the politburo meeting.
Meanwhile, SLPP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had a little family powwow with his brother Basil, the party’s founder, just as news trickled in that the Supreme Court had backed the SJB’s decision to expel Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara from Parliament. The Rajapaksa brothers were urged by district representatives to give the boot to those within the SLPP who had crossed the line by supporting Wickremesinghe, citing that the courts might just back them up on this one. However, Mahinda, ever the strategist, advised patience. “Let’s focus on the election for now,” he said, confident that the prodigals would eventually come back to the fold. Basil chimed in with a knowing grin, admitting that they’ve had their eye on these defectors for a while. “There are two more, but I won’t name names,” he teased. In the end, Basil assured everyone that the SLPP’s priority was to serve the people and protect national assets—whatever that means in the current political circus.
