My Dear Karu,

I thought I must write to you, what with all this fuss about you rejoining the Greens and being appointed deputy leader once again-and everyone beaming for the cameras as if nothing had happened over the past two years.

This is of course not the first time you made headlines, Karu. We remember well how you burst on the political scene contesting for the mayoralty in Colombo with the poster ‘Avoth Karu, Payai Hiru!’ and that was only twelve years ago!

I must say, Karu, I was more than a little surprised when I first heard that you had crossed over to join Mahinda maama’s ranks nearly two years ago. After all, it was the Green Man who had promoted you over and above party veterans at every possible opportunity and how could you of all people betray him when you so zealously preached of being the perfect gentleman, I thought then.

Remember, Karu, at the last big election three years ago the Green Man even named you as the Prime Minister to be, in the event he won the election. He need not have done that but he trusted you-perhaps a little too much-and never dreamed that you would betray him.

But you did and off you went to the blue camp to join Mahinda maama. Many thought you would be made Prime Minister as a reward for bringing in seventeen ‘rebels’ along with you but that never happened and you became increasingly unhappy with the way events were unfolding, we are told.

Don’t forget, Karu, that at least some of them accompanied you not because of any lofty principles they wanted to uphold or because they wanted to support Karu but because they were only ‘horu’ interested in saying some ‘boru’ to get themselves a ministerial portfolio.

And embarrassing though it may seem, Karu, I must ask you this: you left the Greens because you said there was no democracy within the party but has anything changed at all for you to return? Well, as far as we are aware, nothing has and they are still busy fighting with each other instead of battling Mahinda maama!

We know you thought about bringing in the seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution and you were disappointed because Mahinda maama was not as keen as you were in getting it implemented. Well, at least it showed that there was something of the gentleman still remaining in you...

We also know that you tried to recruit Grama Niladharis on a competitive basis only to find that the blues wanted political appointments. I am sure that while you were thinking about the principle involved, they would have wondered why an ‘outsider’ was trying to dictate terms to them!

Of course, despite that one blemish of stabbing the Green Man in the back, we do admire you for always being honest and above board. At one time you were in charge of the Power and Energy ministry and even then, we didn’t hear of any allegations of corruption and for that, we are grateful.

In a sense, Karu, you now have more work to do than when you were with Mahinda maama. As we all know, the Greens are a shadow of their former selves and it is up to you to get together with the Green Man and see if you can put up a good fight in the upcoing elections in Wayamba and especially in the hill country where Seeni Bola is to be the main contender, so we wish you well...

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha

PS-Well, they ask me what is the similarity between you and the other well known Jayasuriya, Sanath. Apparently, both of you run to Mahinda maama when you are about to be dropped from the team and then, when everyone says your days are numbered and expects you to retire, you come back with a bang!