5th columns

I thought I must write to you after seeing you speak in Parliament last week, accusing your own party of betraying you and claiming that there was a conspiracy to oust you from the party. It appeared to be a very emotional performance but then, you have lways been a good actor in public, haven’t you?

You said that you never believed the day would dawn when you would have to stand up and condemn your own party. To be honest, Wimal sahodaraya, we too did not believe that day would dawn so soon although there were always signs that you never really belonged with the reds; after all, the expensive mobile phones, the manicured nails and your well maintained hairdo doesn’t make you a typical socialist!

Of course, you being the dazzling orator that you always are, you were able to move people with your words, describing how your father threatened to kill himself if you joined the reds. You also told us how you had sacrificed your entire youth for the reds, not even having time to visit Sigiriya and Adam’s Peak! Unfortunately though, you forgot to tell us that you really prefer Disneyland to either Sigiriya or Adam’s Peak!

But I must admit, Wimal sahodaraya, despite all your dazzling oratory this last performance was a public relations disaster. It was in fact similar to the time when you proclaimed yourself to be a literary pundit and said that ‘Old Man and the Sea’ was written by Guy de Maupassant instead of Hemingway!

Honestly, Wimal sahodaraya, we really don’t know what all this fuss is about. You say there is a plot to assassinate you politically from within the party and that this will happen soon after the Eastern provincial council elections. Somawansa sahodaraya says that there is nothing of the sort and claims that you are evading answering the many charges levelled against you.

Now, Wimal sahodaraya, this type of claims and counter claims are nothing new to political parties in this country. But the problem here is that the rathu sahodarayas prided themselves on being different to all other parties and promised a clean slate without the corruption and abuse of power that is usually seen among other parties. But now, Wimal sahodaraya, by what you are doing-and what Somawansa is doing in return-washing all your dirty linen in public, you are proving that all of you are the same.

The only question we have for you now is what will happen next, especially after you paraded eleven parliamentarians and said they were supporting you against the party hierarchy. Of course one of them walked out then and there causing some embarrassment, so pardon me if I suspect that this will be the beginning of a long and ugly fight.

And confirming these fears, the very next day we heard that the vehicles of some parliamentarians who supported you had been ‘abducted’ from Parliament itself! I, for one, am not surprised because you rathu sahodarayas gained a lot of experience in abductions in the late eighties but it seems that you are now getting a taste of your own medicine!

And, Wimal sahodaraya, no matter what happens to the reds we mustn’t forget the role played by Mahinda maama in all this. If you look at what he has done over the last two years, he has split the greens into two, he has split the blues into two and now he has even split the reds into two. Why, he has even managed to split the Tigers’ Karuna faction into two! Divide and rule seems to be the motto he thrives on.

So, Wimal sahodaraya, let me wish you ‘suba aluth avuruddak weva’ though it is obvious to all of us that you would desperately need all the best wishes that come your way.

Alas! His manner bespoke his fate; even the air around them hurts!