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AMahinda Rajapaksa 'comeback' meeting, though sans the 'Prince of Denmark,' was a massive crowd puller at its 'inaugural' rally held in Nugegodaon Wednesday (18 February), according to this newspaper's yesterday edition.It was a meeting held to show the crowd the support the former President still has, though trounced at the last month's (January) presidential election, but more importantly, that Rajapaksa should also be the next prime ministerial candidate of the UPFA, the chief opposition coalition party in Parliament, at the forthcoming general election, due in another four months' time in June.

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Ceylontoday, 2015-02-20 02:00:00

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Return of MR

AMahinda Rajapaksa 'comeback' meeting, though sans the 'Prince of Denmark,' was a massive crowd puller at its 'inaugural' rally held in Nugegoda on Wednesday (18 February), according to this newspaper's yesterday edition.It was a meeting held to show the crowd the support the former President still has, though trounced at the last month's (January) presidential election, but more importantly, that Rajapaksa should also be the next prime ministerial candidate of the UPFA, the chief opposition coalition party in Parliament, at the forthcoming general election, due in another four months' time in June.

Rajapaksa didn't turn up at the rally. But a message he had for his supporters was read out by a political journalist and an admirer of the former UNP President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Dr. Dayan Jayatillaka, a speaker at this event.
In that message, Rajapaksa had said he lost the poll due to a conspiracy, but stopped short of naming who those conspirators were.

Meanwhile, the underlying theme at Wednesday's political rally was that he (Rajapaksa) was willing to accede to the request of the masses, meaning that he is willing to come forward as the UPFA's prime ministerial candidate.
The pro-Rajapaksa rally was organized by the former Construction Minister and NFF (a constituent party of the UPFA) Leader, Wimal Weerawansa, and other constituent parties and their leaders such as former Water Supply Minister and MEP Leader, Dinesh Gunawardena and former JHUer and provincial councillor, Udaya Gammanpila.

The message delivered at that rally by the speakers was that the UPFA coalition government, which lasted for 10 long years till Rajapaksa was ousted last month, should field the latter as its prime ministerial candidate at the forthcoming polls.
But, whoever the prime ministerial candidate of the UPFA is going to be, is in the hands of Sirisena, who is also the UPFA leader. Former Irrigation Minister and UPFA MP, Nimal Siripala de Silva is the current leader of the opposition. He is touted to be the UPFA's prime ministerial candidate and not Rajapaksa.

The principal party of the UPFA is the SLFP to which party Sirisena, Rajapaksa and de Silva belong.
In Sri Lanka's 37 years history in experimenting with the executive presidential system of government never had a defeated or a retired executive president ever come forward as a prime ministerial candidate after serving their terms as executive presidents.
Rajapaksa, if he comes forward as the prime ministerial candidate of the UPFA or of any other party at the forthcoming poll, will then be creating a precedent.
Meanwhile, the lead story in this newspaper's yesterday's edition announced that the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP), founded by actor-politico Vijaya Kumaratunga, has extended an invitation to the late actor's son, Vimukthi, to take over the leadership of the SLMP.

Vimukthi is not only Vijaya's son, but is also the son of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, a woman with a long political lineage, older than Sri Lanka's 67-year-old post independence history.
It was Vimukthi's grandfather S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who formed the SLFP 64 years ago in 1951, after breaking away from the UNP, in which party whom he felt he had no future. The SLFP in a short span of a year became Sri Lanka's main opposition party together with the Marxist LSSP at the 1952 general elections and four years later, it led a coalition of parties under the banner Mahajana Ekasth Peramuna, which swept the poll in the 1956 'first past the post' general election, relegating the then predominant UNP in the island's political landscape to mere eight seats.
The SLFP since then has established itself as Sri Lanka's second largest political force. In Sri Lanka's 67-year post independence history, the SLFP together with a coalition of parties has governed the country for 33 years, while in the case of the balance 34 years; it has been ruled by the UNP.
For all intents and purposes, it's the UNP which calls the shots in the current New Democratic Front Coalition Government of Sirisena, formed after the 8 January polls.

Nevertheless, it's left to be seen whether Vimukthi will accept the invitation and once more make the SLMP the third political force in the country, as claimed by that party, that it once was. Or, will he go one step better, and do what his distinguished grandfather did, 59 years ago in 1956?
Distinguished, because there is a school of thought who believes that if not for Bandaranaike, the only other political alternative left for the masses, in the event they were disillusioned with the UNP was the Marxist LSSP, which was Sri Lanka's main opposition party from 1947 to 1952 and from 1956 to 1960 respectively.
From what extremist forces, if there be any, will Vimukthi stave off the country?