5th Column

Our own Crown Prince who'll never be King!
My Dear Crown Prince,
I thought I must write to you because the other Crown Prince that we know of, Charles, married last week and that reminded us that our own version was still the most eligible bachelor in these parts of the world.

Of course, I am not for a moment suggesting that you run off and tie the knot immediately. What prompts this letter is the fact that, like Charles you appear destined to be the Crown Prince forever and never the King!

We do feel sorry for you, Crown prince. We do recall the eighties when the Blues were reduced to eight seats in Parliament and your mother was forced out of the House when Junius stripped her civic rights. You were there, keeping the Blues alive and holding the fort when everyone thought the Blues were politically dead forever.

During all those long years Akka was of course making matters worse for you because she was mesmerised by that actor chap who saw himself as a third force in this two party system. And then, when the going got tough for her, she got going to England, leaving you once again to do battle with Junius's successor.

But what amazes me, Crown Prince, is your ability to back the wrong horse. After seventeen long years, just when the tide was to turn in favour of the Blues you were lured in to the Green camp and sure enough, they lost the election.

You have now managed to get back to the ruling party but you now find yourself upstaged by Mahinda who smiles at anything that moves and makes the most of being a Prime Ministerial peon, hoping that he can do what Preme did before him and become the next candidate after Akka's two terms are over.

Your reaction, Crown Prince, is to cosy up to the sahodarayas and sing their praises saying that your alliance cannot survive without them. I am not an admirer of Akka's political wisdom, Crown Prince, but when she says that the sahodarayas are slowly but surely trying to erode the Blues' political base and become the alternative to the Greens, she cannot be more correct. Why, she even told them to get out if they want to and they haven't done that, have they?

I know you think you could get them to support you in your battle against Mahinda to become the next leader, but that might be too high a price to pay. Akka got their support and they call her a 'bibikkama'; I am sure they will think of something more imaginative if they fall out of favour with you!

Think about it, will you, while you spend this holiday season. As far as we are concerned, it doesn't matter to us whether Akka, you or Mahinda leads the Blues but we would like a strong and vibrant Blue party to remain-and not be marooned by an invasion of Reds!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS-I hear Rosmead Place is to be converted to a hotel and that Horagolla has been declared a Wild Life Sanctuary. It seems appropriate that the Prime Ministerial residence is up for grabs to the highest bidder, but does it also mean that Bandaranaikes are an endangered species? What would SWRD and the Queen Bee-who would have been eighty-nine today-say to all this?

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