Written by Arun Kumaresan
Here is a very interesting timeline for those that have what is known as ” Selective Amnesia”. Don’t forget to thank me later ☺️
1993 – Ranil Wickremesinghe is appointed as PM for the first time following the assassination of Late President Ranasingha Premadasa
1994 – Following the UNP’s defeat at the Presidential Elections, RW is appointed as the the Opposition Leader
1999 – First Presidential election defeat
2001 – RW Appointed PM after the UNP’s electoral victory at the General Elections
2003- CBK agrees to abolish the Executive Presidency and puts in a clause saying that it should be implemented after her term ends ( Her second term was due to expire in 2005).
RW vehemently opposes and burns down the document in Parliament.
2004 – CBK takes over key Ministries of the the UNF Government and dissolves Parliament
2005 – RW’s second back to back Presidental election defeat
2007 – UNP members call for Karu Jayasuriya to become party leader and RW opposes again. 17 members of the UNP defect to President Rajapaksa.
2010 – Karu Jayasuriya returns to the party and UNP members request for him to be made its Presidential Candidate.
The UNP constitution states that IF a member of the party becomes the President’s he/she automatically becomes the Leader of the UNP. RW then opts to field Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka as the common candidate.
2015 – UNP members this time around request Sajith Premadasa to be made its candidate failing which to appoint Karu Jayasuriya. RW objects to this and appoints Maithreepala Sirisena as the candidate.
2015 – 2018
RW appoints Singapore National ( Not dual citizen) Arjuna Mahendra as his Central Bank Governor amidst massive protest from within the UNP.
He also appoints Ravi Karunanayaka as Finance Minister, overlooking capable MP’s such as Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne
2018 – RW is sacked by President Sirisena who establishes a 52 illegal Government.
Sajith Premadasa is offered PM multiple times by President Sirisena and the latter rejects the offer based on ” PRINCIPLE” and backs RW to regain control of the Government.
2018 – A majority of the UNP request Sajith Premadasa to be made the candidate at a future election. The first letter requesting RW to make the call was written by myself as Chairman of the Welgama Urban Council.
My Party membership was suspended within 3 days and disciplinery action was iniatiated against me.
2019 – Amidst a series of statements by prominent UNP party members, RW agrees to appoint Sajth as the candidate, nearly an year after the request was made!
RW then backtracks and refuses to grant Sajith the use of the UNP’s official logo, The Elephant. He refuses to make him the party’s candidate and instead fields him as the Common candidate.
2019 – RW makes a statement 6 days before postal voting stating ” No matter who becomes the President, I will still continue to be PM”.
This statement discourages thousands of UNP voters and was widely perceived to have been made to sabotage the campaign of Sajith Premadasa
2020 – A majority of UNP members request for the party leadership to be handed over to Sajith Premadasa in order to face the General Elections.
RW refuses and decides to hold onto Party Leadership.
The SJB is then formed and obtains 52 seats creating a record as the youngest Political party to obtain that many seats at a Parliamentary election. The SJB had only two party post created during that short time. The post of Leader and General Secretary.
The UNP is wiped out. 0 seats with even RW losing Colombo with a vote count too low to publish.
RW then waits for 6 months and creeps into Parliament through the UNP’s sole bonus slot.
2022 – President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa offers RW the Premiership. RW accepts the offer with NO conditions while Sajith Premadasa lays down conditions including the abolishment of the Excecutive Presidency.
The SJB before the appointment of the new PM writes another letter to the President saying that it’s Leader is willing to form the new Government. It relaxes one of the conditions which state that ” The President must agree to resign with a STIPULATED time frame”.
The President rejects the offer and proceeds to appoint a national list MP as the New PM.
The President then issues an extraordinary gazette, taking over 42 key institutions under the Ministry of Defense including Telecom, BOI and Port city economic commision.
The rest will be chapters told in our history books.
This Ladies and Gentlemen is the “Savior” that some of you have placed your trust in again. A failed product that has taken your gullible souls for a ride over and over again.
Enjoy the ride while it last and please don’t complain calling him a “loser” when he screws up again.
Remember that you too are part of the problem and social media these days will have a funny way of biting you in the ass while all this is done and dusted 🙏🏾
