Six days had passed since Lalith became the leader of the Democratic United National Front, or UFP. At that time, President Premadasa suddenly decided to hold the provincial council elections. When Premadasa announced the elections, the opposition leader, Mrs. Bandaranaike, had already formed the United Podujana Eksath Peramuna with the leftist parties a few days earlier. Premadasa believed that the elections should be held before the Lalith-Gamini party and Mrs UFP were fully organised.
As soon as the elections were announced, Lalith and Gamini formed the Democratic United National Front. Gamini and Premachandra believed that the opposition should contest the provincial council elections as a single alliance, but Lalith disagreed.
Lalith was the arch-enemy of Premadasa and the UNP. His view was that, in order to defeat Premadasa, they should not ally with the SLFP.
“If we ally with the SLFP, UNP members will not vote for us. If we want to take votes from Premadasa, we must do it separately,” Lalith said firmly.
The first meeting of Lalith, Gamini, and Premachandra against Premadasa was held in Nugegoda. The SLFP was not involved in this meeting. From that point on, Lalith and Gamini travelled around the country separately, building the party machinery. They worked tirelessly. After 17 years, the UNP government was defeated by the votes Lalith and Gamini took from the UNP.
Lalith, Gamini, and Premachandra were not interested in ministerial posts in the next government; their aim was to defeat the Premadasa government. Had they sought ministerial positions, they could have allied with the SLFP, taken prominent seats at their meetings, and waited for the SLFP to defeat Premadasa. But Lalith and his colleagues understood that an alliance with the SLFP would never bring them victory. They knew that such an alliance would only yield a single seat in the opposition in the next election.
“So does the joint opposition want to defeat Anura’s government today, or to enter parliament on the votes of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya?”
The truth is that the former MPs who plan to hold the Nugegoda meetings are not motivated by principle but by personal ambition—the hunger for ministerial posts or parliamentary seats. These former MPs and ministers have held office since 1994 and cannot imagine remaining without power. Without ministerial posts, they cannot survive without a seat in parliament. Yet they do not possess the votes themselves. Today, the opposition’s votes lie with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Podujana Peramuna. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya has the capacity to win elections independently.
Thus, these former MPs and ministers seek to unite the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Podujana Peramuna to defeat Anura’s government, securing ministerial positions if successful, or opposition seats if they fail. They are unwilling to travel across the country and organise a party to engage the people as Lalith and Gamini did, knowing that support will not automatically follow them. Their goal is not to expand the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s votes, but to siphon them. Ranil, too, lacks independent support; since 2020, he has sought to take votes from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. That is why Ranil aligns naturally with these former MPs and ministers.
Since 2020, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya has been building a voter base against the Rajapaksas and the corrupt ministers of both the 2015–2019 UNP government and the current administration. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya contested the 2024 presidential election on the promise of defeating the Rajapaksa-Ranil corrupt alliance, and the JVP made similar claims. However, the public placed greater trust in the JVP than in the SJP, as some SJP MPs had supported Ranil’s economic policies and benefited from his government. People feared that a victory by the SJP would not hold the Rajapaksa-Ranil alliance accountable.
Nonetheless, the SJP pursued legal action, accusing Rajapaksa of bankrupting the country. When Ranil postponed elections and appointed the IGP unconstitutionally, the SJP opposed it.
Ultimately, the Rajapaksa government and Ranil’s cabinet were defeated by voters who trusted not only the JVP but also the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. These voters believed the accusations against the Rajapaksa-Ranil alliance and their ministers.
Now, Rajapaksa, Ranil, and those ministers invite these voters to attend the Nugegoda meeting and “wash their bodies”—a metaphor for submission. When Ranil and the UNP promised to maintain the presidency for Rajapaksa and his cabinet until 2022, the public effectively took on the burden of holding them accountable. The Rajapaksa-Ranil alliance and their cabinet were undone right there.
“Will the SJP also attend Nugegoda to wash their bodies?”
It is too early to predict.
