Ranil Wickramasinghe prepares for 2009 elections.

by Charles.S.Perera

(October 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is a battle in the north where our Soldiers die in great numbers to eliminate the terrorists and end terrorism from Sri Lanka. But the failed opposition leader least concerned about the suffering of the people and the plight of the soldiers fighting against the most ruthless terrorists, is preparing the election campaign for 2009.

What lack of understanding and maturity on the part of a politicians who is supposed to be the leader of the UNP , and the leader of the opposition. I hope the UNP has finished with the "bath gottas" of the former time, who voted for favours and followed the UNP election caravans, clowning, and often bullying the people, into joining the cavalcade.

If those times have gone, and if UNP has the intelligent decent supporters, they should refuse to follow Ranil Wickramasinghe's uninspiring failed leadership. There is a more potential leader outspoken and different, breaking the ranks to be heard and if the UNP supporters have any sense of urgency to give back to the old party its lost prestige, they should hoist Rukman Senanayake and acclaim him as their leader. Ranil Wickramasinghe has lost his credibility and people have lost trust in him. He cannot inspire the people with new proposals.

You get to know the man from the company he keeps. If you listen to Lakshman Kiriella, Tissa Attanayake, and S.B.Dissanayake, you will recognise their leader. They have themselves nothing new to propose other than to discredit, vilify, and denigrate the President Mahinda Rajapakse, his family and the government.

That helps nobody, and UNP has nothing positive to propose. Ranil Wickramasinghe claims that the President is hiding vital issues behind the war and advises the government to hand over the responsibility of waging war to the military and focus its attention on resolving people's problems.

He adds that the government should take the lead given by late presidents J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa on how to carry on with both, without hiding public issues with war.

Though Ranil Wickramasinghe is "slow " to understand, the people are more "intelligent" to know that the President Mahainda Rajapakse has no lesson to take from the past or present UNP leaders. The President Mahinda Rajapakse knows exactly what he is doing.

He has been able to get the terrorists, who the calculating self ambitious Ranil Wicramasinghe like his former leaders, strengthened, and signing behind the back of the people a CFA ,gave the terrorists the time, and the opportunity to build a formidable terrorist force with modern arms, with technological support, onto their knees.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse, has proved himself to be a formidable statesman, incomparable to any of the past Presidents of Sri Lanka. Even Manmohan Sing of India who is being taken for a "ride" by the Tamil Nadu terrorist motivated Karunanidhi camp, and the other politicians seeking to save the ruthless terrorist Prabhakaran , can learn lessons from our President.
The government is not hiding any thing behind the war. Despite the difficulties, and global financial peril the government has not failed to carry out several development projects. global price hikes of consumer goods have affected Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is not alone in this difficult economic situation.

Once the major problems have been solved the President will undoubtedly take the country on the correct road to progress. The much talked ,over excessively large cabinet has not been a waste as there are a good number of Ministers who are silently going ahead with many development projects, and defending Sri Lanka in International Forums.

Ranil Wickramasinghe's advice to the President and the government will be hailed as wise by his blind ambitious " bath gottas" around him , but not so by the more intelligent larger vote base.

Ranil Wickramasinghe unfortunately cannot hold a candle to the President Mahinda Rajapakse. Further more the people will not pardon him for having snared into his camp one of the greatest of our war heroes late General Janake Perera, and caused his untimely death, in an unwise choice of a political path. Hope no one else will follow Ranil Wickramasinghe's advice to join him, and thus seek an untimely end. - Sri Lanka Guardian