My Dear Green Man,

I thought I must write to you because right now, everybody in the Green party appear to be demanding your resignation as party leader and you seem to be enjoying it all! Of course, it goes without saying , this always happens the moment the Greens lose an election and it must be like just another day in the office for you...

After the provincial elections in the Eastern province I do remember, Green Man, there were complaints that you didn’t do much campaigning and that this may have contributed to your loss. But the same cannot be said about what happened at Rajarata and Sabaragamuwa where even Gunshot and One-shot couldn’t turn the tide for you.

Of course, I am sure you are saddened by the fact that all those who are demanding your ouster now are those who have been nurtured by you. Unfortunately, you must feel that they have grown into nasty political animals but then, you must take a fair share of the blame for that too!

As I see it, Green Man, they seem to believe that all their ills will end if they can get rid of you and just by doing that, they can win the next election. They don’t seem to worry about why the Greens lost the election; they appear to have already decided they lost the election only because of you!

And this could be a costly mistake to make, Green Man. What most people say is that the Greens lost the election only because Mahinda maama has cleverly got the people on to his side by convincing them that he will win the war. It is a rather simple strategy, no doubt, but looking at the election results, it does seem to work!

Then there is this other belief that if the Greens come to power-especially a team of Greens headed by you, the Tigers will have a free run once more and all the sacrifices made by our armed forces will be in vain. I am not for a moment suggesting this is true, but it does appear to be the message that is getting through to the people-and this is the most likely reason why you are losing election after election...
But of course, this is not to say that you are totally free of blame for the repeated election defeats that the Greens have suffered in recent times. You do tend to listen to a few friends and make your decisions instead of asking those loyal faithful who do a lot of spadework for the party, don’t you, Green Man?
Then, you have also been accused of spending more time out of the country than in it and I think there may be an element of truth in that allegation too, Green Man. Whatever these charges, you must also realise that your political life expectancy is getting shorter by the day-unless you undertake some drastic changes to your style of leadership, and do it soon too...

If you were to look on the bright side though, Green Man, there is really no one to take over the reins after you. I’m told that the son, the grandson and the outsider are all staking their claims. For me-and for most people, I think-they represent the good, the bad and the ugly of the Greens. And I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one is which!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha

PS-And while you are pondering what you should do next, count your blessings. Had that man Karu been with you now, they would have ousted you and installed him as the leader already. Mahinda maama took him for a ride and he fell for it hook, line and sinker, so in a sense, you owe your survival to Mahinda maama, don’t you?