Ranil - Sajith discussion and results

Ranil - Sajith discussion and results

A final discussion between UNP leader Ranil and deputy leader Sajith took place last night (10) which incidentally was subjected to much talk in the recent time. The background motive behind the discussion was the suggestion that Sajith be made the Presidential candidate with the attendant reason that  Sajith too has attended several provincial council meetings and that some UNP ministers had blatantly worked towards installing
Sajith as the candidate, all of which were reported. The objective of this discussion was that in a background where already Gota from Podu Jana Peramuna, Anura Kumara from JVP and   Maithri or some other person from SLFP from the main political parties have been named or are preparing to do so ... the necessity to hasten the decision regarding Presidential candidate of the UNP. 

The said discussion held in privacy at Temple Trees was not revealed to the media and only two who came out after discussions spoke of their ideas to the media this morning (11). Sajith who took part in the discussion informed that talks with Premier Mr. Ranil Wickremasingha was productive and that the outcome of it would come into the open in the few days ahead and that and that similar talks in this context would continue and that there was no conflict between he and the Prime Minister as such. 

He has however not stated that he was nominated as the Presidential candidate. It then is not clear whether he refrained on commenting on it till it will be announced officially or else because it would turn out to be a disadvantage to reveal about another proposal.  In the meantime, what minister Malik Samarawickrema told the media towards the end of the discussion was that no decision was arrived at regarding Presidential candidacy. In the process, pro Opposition media reports were published to the effect that discussions ended in failure while pro Sajith social media had stated about a story of Ranil giving his consent to promote Sajith for the Presidential candidacy. 

In any case, internal news sources report that as a result of some seniors of the party including Ranil being not in favour of accepting Sajith as the Presidential candidate; under such circumstances this particular decision was still not taken. The reason which influenced this situation as reported is that though the popularity gained by Sajith as a village-oriented person who works for the village which would be favourable at the election, the welcome he would receive from the urban folk would be at a minimum level. They are of the opinion that though factors such as presenting a political vision, winning a name among all nations are important to win over people; Sajith could score only a few marks on such factors. 

Further, the idea of those political seniors was that Sajith's qualifications would be more significant in the future general election and to give an opportunity for Sajith in the next general election as a candidate for position of Prime Minister while allowing some justice for his camp as well and transfer Presidential candidacy to somebody else. 

Among names proposed instead of Sajith were Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya and Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasingha who are in the forefront and to justify those proposals UNP seniors and  associates have taken steps to bring out reports in connection with survey data already.