My Dear Green Man and the new Deputy Green Man,
I didn't think a time will come when I would be writing to you together, but after what happened this week when you were elected as leader and deputy leader of the Greens, I thought I must do so, especially after seeing what took place after the elections.
I suppose congratulations are in order for both of you especially to the Green Man because he was able to survive the most serious challenge to his leadership until now. I must also say that we were quite surprised at the convincing margin of your victory over Karu.
As for the Deputy Green Man, you should be happy too. Now you are the undisputed Number Two in the party at forty four years of age and after just ten years in Parliament — and Ravi can't claim that mantle any more!
What both of you must realise is that a significant proportion of those who voted for the Green Man instead of Karu in the leadership vote wanted the Deputy Green Man instead of Ravi . That is a very powerful message from the party that they want you to work together.
Sadly though, what we saw after the election was anything but that and Deputy Green Man, you must take most of the blame for that. Those who created mayhem appeared to be your supporters and you and Karu did little to pacify them until extensive damage was done.
You must also realise, Deputy Green Man, that the damage was not only to Siri Kotha; the reputation of the Green party was also seriously tarnished. How can you now blame Mervyn or Duminda for instance when your supporters seem to be behaving in the same manner?
There is no purpose, Deputy Green Man, in continuing to complain about the election. You asked for it, you got the contest that you wanted and you went along with it-until the results became obvious. And in this instance it was Tissa-and not Dayananda-who presided.
You will also achieve little, Deputy Green Man, by constantly referring to the so-called struggle to hand over the Greens to the people who wear the redda and beniyama. Your party has spoken and instead of being a poor loser, the time has now come to work together.
It is true that the Green Man is to blame for some of the Greens' misfortunes in recent years and we know that he comes across as being ill at ease when he is with the masses, but Deputy Green Man, you too must share some blame for the current plight of the Greens.
That is because your constant attempts to oust the Green Man over the past couple of years handicapped the Greens a great deal. The manner in which you did it, often lampooning the Green Man in public may have hurt him but it hurt the Greens party as well.
Green Man, that is not to say that you are not to blame. After each attempt to oust you, you have gone on a witch hunt against those who supported the Deputy Green Man and as a result the Greens have been going around in a vicious circle, while Mahinda maama makes merry!
Even after this week's election, Green Man, what you said and did, literally throwing stones at the opposite camp, will probably not help the Greens. What you need to realise, Green Man, is that you would still need the Deputy Green Man for the masses to rally around you.
Green Man, I think the best lesson for you came from your uncle, JR. When he had to appoint the Deputy Green Man's father as his Number Two, he didn't try to sideline him. Instead, he was given his due place as Prime Minister.
We know he complained saying it was only a 'peon's job' but the rest, as they say, is history. More importantly, it helped to keep the Greens in power, even after JR retired. That is something you can think about, when you are planning future activities for the Greens.
For you, Deputy Green Man, the best lesson would be not to repeat the mistakes of your father. He too was obsessed with keeping the UNP with those who wore the redda and beniyama and in the end, everyone got together — except the Green Man!-to impeach him.
To this day, Deputy Green man, the Greens are paying for that because it was the impeachment against your father that gave life to the then lifeless opposition and they haven't looked back since then-except for a few years when the Green Man took over.
So, with so much of history behind both of you-with the Green Man having always been loyal to the Greens and supporting the Deputy Green Man's father-I see no reason why both of you should not be able to forgive and forget and learn to work together.
Most would agree with me that both of you need each other if you are to win any election and displace the Blues. The Deputy Green Man has just proved what a disaster he is as a tactician and for that, he will need the Green Man.
The Green Man has always been a disaster in dealing with the masses and for that he will need the help of the Deputy Green Man. If only both of you-and the two camps within the Greens-recognise this instead of sniping at each other constantly!
You have a long road ahead and a lot of hard work to do, so we wish you luck. Green Man, you need to be magnanimous instead of trying to send your rivals to jail for damaging the party headquarters. And Deputy Green Man, you need to wait until your time comes.
We hope both of you are able to see eye to eye and try to restore the Greens to their former glory, not because we love the Blues and Mahinda maama any less, but because we love our country even more.
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: Last week, there was some speculation that the scorecard might read, Ranil W, stumped Sajith P, bowled Karu J. Instead, it now reads, Ranil W not out 68, Karu J, retired hurt, 26 and their enduring partnership seems to have been broken at last!
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