When President Ranasinghe Premadasa first carried out a Cabinet reshuffle in 1990, he never imagined that it would mark the beginning of his downfall. In that reshuffle, he appointed Lalith Athulathmudali, who had been Minister of Agriculture, as Minister of Education. Lalith had never been happy as Minister of Agriculture. Having served as Minister of Trade and National Security under J.R.’s government, he saw the new post as a demotion. Moving from Agriculture to Education only deepened his resentment. At the same time, Gamini, the Minister of Plantation Industries, was removed from the Cabinet.
The 1991 impeachment motion against Premadasa arose directly from this reshuffle. Lalith and Gamini, whose wings had been clipped, joined forces to bring the motion. It marked the beginning of Premadasa’s end.
Under Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government, which came to power in 1994, the first Cabinet reshuffle occurred in 1997. By then, the most prominent political figure in Chandrika’s Cabinet was Mahinda Rajapaksa, who served as Minister of Labour. While preparing to address the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Mahinda was visited by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Geneva the night before his speech.
“You are being removed from the post of Minister of Labour…” the Ambassador informed him.
Mahinda was deeply distressed. That day, he resolved that Chandrika needed to be taught a lesson. From then on, he began plotting against her with ministers and MPs. In 2001, a powerful group of ministers defected from her government to the opposition—a direct result of Mahinda’s maneuvering. Yet Mahinda himself did not leave the government. Instead, he met Ranil at the residence of former Parliamentary Secretary-General Sam Wijesinha and cleared the way for Ranil to poach ministers. Chandrika’s government collapsed later that year. Although she returned to power in 2004, by 2005 she was compelled to retire from politics, and Mahinda rose as the leader.
After Mahinda became President in 2005, he appointed the party’s General Secretary, Maithripala Sirisena, as Minister of Agriculture—a portfolio Maithri preferred. However, after Mahinda won the presidency again in 2010, he changed Maithri’s portfolio, appointing him Minister of Health. Maithri was not particularly pleased.
The first clash between Mahinda and Maithri emerged from this Cabinet reshuffle. Later, during a conflict involving a tobacco company, Mahinda and the Rajapaksa family sided with the company, further aggravating Maithri’s resentment. This became one of the main reasons Maithri agreed to become the common opposition presidential candidate in 2015. Had Mahinda not reshuffled the Cabinet in 2010 and left Maithri as Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda might not have been defeated in 2015, and Maithripala Sirisena would not have become President.
Thus, Sri Lankan presidents have repeatedly been undone by their own Cabinet reshuffles, which create enemies within their governments. In 1990, Premadasa undermined Lalith and Gamini, seen as the next potential UNP leaders. In 1997, Chandrika undermined Mahinda, popular among SLFP members as a successor. In 2010, Mahinda undermined the SLFP General Secretary.
“So then, the other day, did Anura Kumara clip the Leader of the House Bimal’s wings…?”
The story is true. Anura’s sudden Cabinet reshuffle shocked political circles in Colombo.
At that time, Bimal was Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation. When a massive allegation regarding container clearance emerged, the opposition claimed Bimal was removed from the Port Ministry due to his connection to the corrupt deal. Bimal did not respond, insisting from the start that he had no authority to release containers. After the reshuffle, he disappeared to China for nearly two weeks. Immediately after Bimal left, Prime Minister Harini entered the spotlight.
She made two state visits—to China and India—and, having been positioned to clip Bimal’s wings, stepped forward to repair her public image. With Harini taking center stage, Bimal, previously the government’s second most prominent figure, was sidelined.
Before the reshuffle, Bimal had told the media that a reshuffle was imminent. Minister Haduneththi rejected his claim. In the end, the only reshuffle that actually occurred was Bimal’s removal from the posts of Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation.
Before his removal, Bimal had been the government’s chief parliamentary attacker, frequently assailing the opposition and leaving them little space to speak. He was known as the government’s shield. After returning from his overseas stay, Bimal became a quiet figure in Parliament. Recently, the opposition even had to demand that the Speaker give him the microphone.
Earlier, whenever Bimal spoke, the opposition erupted in anger. At the time, Harini was the opposition’s most popular figure. The opposition believed there was a rift between Harini and the JVP, which might grow until she left the government. Harini remained silent, allowing such speculation. But after Anura’s Cabinet reshuffle, Harini stepped forward confidently, while Bimal fell silent.
Until Premadasa clipped Lalith’s and Gamini’s wings, the opposition saw them as villains. After the reshuffle, they became heroes of the opposition. Mahinda became a hero of the opposition only after Chandrika clipped his wings. Maithripala too became an opposition hero only after Mahinda and the Rajapaksa family clipped his wings.
The JVP is not the UNP or SLFP—it is a highly disciplined party. Yet even there, people have broken away, like Wimal, party leader Somawansa, and Kumar Gunaratnam.
Is Bimal in the same league as Lalith, Mahinda, and Maithri?
“It’s hard to say.”
