My Dear Uncle Ranil,

I thought I must write to you not only to wish you on your 60th Birthday but also to congratulate you for your miraculous survival as the leader of the Unanduwak Nethi Pakshaya.

Frankly, Uncle Ranil, even though you have survived several coups to oust you from the party leadership before this, I thought that this time around you were well and truly painted into a corner and you would have no choice but to call it a day.

After all there was this proposal to make you a so-called ‘Senior Leader’, whatever that means and it looked as if all those people who were nurtured and promoted by you were now trying to get rid of you, so that they could have a larger slice of the cake.

Of course, in hindsight, it was a great move to accept Uncle Karu back into the fold. He was the next best choice for the leadership and then many had second thoughts about appointing him as the leader because he had betrayed both you and the party at a very critical juncture to leave you and join Mahinda maama’s cabinet, all for the sake of a mere cabinet portfolio.

In the end, it turned out that it was his unpopularity that saved you. That, and the fact that there were so many aspirants for the leadership rather than one clear cut leader from among the rest of the pack.
After all, apart from Uncle Karu, there was Seeni Bola, the son of your former boss and the grandson of the Father of the Nation. Now, the presence of all these contenders is interesting, Uncle Ranil, because it makes us all suspect whether this is really an attempt to improve the party or whether it is just a clever way of improving their own prospects!

After all, Seeni Bola wasn’t able to win even his own electorate at the recent elections in the madhyama palaatha and the same fate befell the grandson of the Father of the nation. And, these are the people who want you to step down (or rather, get kicked upstairs as a ‘Senior Leader’) so that they could take over!
I am told the son of your former boss is less aggressive in what he says and does and there are those who say that the two of you make a good team-just like his father and your uncle did. That may be something to think about, Uncle Ranil, especially because unlike Seeni Bola, Uncle Karu and the grandson of the Father of the Nation, the young man also has time on his side...

But please do remember, Uncle Ranil, just because you were endorsed yet again by your party that does not automatically solve all your problems. You have to still convince the rest of the country that they can entrust the fortunes of the nation to you-and there is a long, long way to go for you to get to that stage, especially with Mahinda maama taming the Tigers in the north and east.

You could also perhaps learn a lesson or two about choosing your friends more carefully. Hopefully, you will not be naive enough to take back those who left you and joined Mahinda maama’s ranks-especially the likes of the dental surgeon and the agricultural man-who seem to take a particular delight in ridiculing you. Then, you could also learn how to be a bit more spontaneous in what you say and do in public.

Anyway, Uncle Ranil, we are glad that you are politically alive to fight another day. But I daresay that Mahinda maama will be happy about it too. Think about it, will you, as you blow your 60 candles?

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha

PS-I think the first thing you should do now is to get an undertaking from those ‘rebels’ in your camp that they will not start the same old process of ousting you after the western provincial council elections. After all, even you wouldn’t bet on winning that one now, would you?