- They seem to have forgotten that the current Presidency and the government are interdependent
- The President as well as the UNP rode on the pledges of eradicating corruption and establishing democracy in the country
- They spoke on their public platforms as if their purity had been polluted by the cohabitation with the UNP, like the Indian high cast elites talk of what they called “untouchables.”
- The victory of the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), the UNP led coalition at the Parliamentary election on August 17, 2015 was a direct upshot of the election
Needless to say that President Maithripala Sirisena’s reported emotional speech to the Cabinet 
and walk out from the meeting on Tuesday was the most serious manifestation of the strained relationship between the two partners of the government, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
Even an ordinary man, leave alone an executive President would not tolerate the vituperative remarks made by the UNP Parliamentarians and ministers on public forums since recently against the President. They seem to have misused the relative free environment in the country and have not realized that the vulnerability of the current Presidency has intertwined with that of their own government. They seem to have forgotten that the current Presidency and the government are interdependent.
The differences between the two parties, though over matters insignificant to the country have been evident occasionally during the past three years in the form of mere rhetoric. It was the SLFP ministers in the government who while hanging on to the portfolios first started to hurt their partner in governance by way of despising the latter. They spoke on their public platforms as if their purity had been polluted by the cohabitation with the UNP, like the Indian high cast elites talk of what they called “untouchables.”
The UNP reaction came very late, especially with the heightening heat of the proceedings of the Presidential Commission on the controversial 2015 Central Bank bond transaction. As the President had named during his speech to the Cabinet on Monday, most vocal in criticizing him were Minister Harin Fernando, State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, Parliamentarians Nalin Bandara and S.M. Marikkar.
The differences between the two parties, have been evident occasionally during the past three years in the form of mere rhetoric
It was Senasinghe who first provoked the President to hit back by questioning in public as to why the President who appointed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the bond issue could not appoint such commissions to investigate into the large scale frauds committed by the leaders of the former regime. He went on to describe the appointment of the Bond Commission by the President as a conspiracy against the UNP.
President Sirisena in response made an unprecedented warning to UNP leaders critical of him directly and indirectly by advising them “not to cry after spilling the gravy all over the body” (Kole iraagena enge halaagena andanna epa), as a recent Sinhala adage created by the youth goes. This prompted UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to advice the UNP members not to criticize the President.
However, with the Bond Commission handing over its report to the President and the President making public some of its recommendations which called for action against the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, a nominee of the Prime Minister, his son-in-law and head of the controversial company, Perpetual Treasuries Limited Arjun Aloysius and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, the UNP ministers and Parliamentarians forgot its leader’s advice and resumed attacks against the President. They talked about forming a government of their own without the President’s party, the SLFP.
With the Bond Commission handing over its report to the President the UNP ministers and MPs forgot its leader’s advice and resumed attacks
Most scathing among them was Colombo District MP Marikkar who said during a public meeting in Gothatuwa in his constituency, Kolonnawa that the President who was voted into power mainly by the UNP voters had no gratitude towards the UNP and was acting without conscience. While lashing out at SLFP ministers such as Dilan Perera and Susil Premajayantha who always look down upon the UNP, Marikkar warned the SLFP to teach a good lesson on February 10, the day the local government elections are scheduled to be held.
It is true that President Sirisena was elected mainly by the UNP voters. But it is extremely iniquitous to say that the President had been ungrateful by appointing a commission to look into the bond issue, for two reasons. Firstly, the nomination of Maithripala Sirisena as the common Presidential candidate of the Opposition during the last Presidential election did not in any way signify any magnanimity on the part of the UNP. It can be gathered with the articles now being carried in Sinhala newspapers on how the Opposition found its common candidate in 2014, that UNP gave into the idea of a common candidate as it foresaw the defeat in the event its own candidate contested against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The victory of the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG), the UNP led coalition at the Parliamentary election on August 17, 2015 was a direct upshot of the election of Maithriapala Sirisena as the President, as it made a huge psychological impact on the constituency. Also the President who removed the UPFA Cabinet after his election paved the way for the UNP’s victory at that election by appointing the leader of the UNP which had only 54 seats in the Parliament as the Prime Minister. Besides, President Sirisena, through various media statements during the Parliamentary election, demoralized the voters of the UPFA who wanted Mahinda Rajapaksa to become the Prime Minister after that election.
After the Bond Commission went public with its proceedings, nobody could deny the massive fraud that had taken place in the CB
Hence, one can argue that it was President Sirisena who voted the UNP into power. Therefore, if morality matters in politics both the President and the UNP have to be grateful to each other and one cannot take the moral high ground over the other. And they also have to understand that the fate of the President and the UNP led government are still intertwined and interdependent.
The second reason as to why the UNP cannot blame the President for appointing the Bond Commission and call him ungrateful is that what he did was correct. The President as well as the UNP rode on the pledges of eradicating corruption and establishing democracy in the country. Then, as the President reportedly questioned at the Cabinet meeting, was it wrong on his part to appoint a commission to probe one of the largest frauds in the Sri Lankan history, just because he was brought to power mainly by the UNP?
After the Bond Commission went public with its proceedings, nobody could deny the massive fraud that had taken place in the Central Bank. The problem with the UNP is its perception that it, as a party was responsible for this national crime. The party that argues that the military must be cleared of the war crimes allegation by subjecting the wrongdoers in the armed forces to investigations does not apply the same contention with regard to the fraudster in the controversial bond transactions.
The UNP that boasted to have created a new culture when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe testified before the Commission and Ravi Karunanayake resigned from the ministerial post after his financial relationship with Arjun Aloysius was exposed during the Commission’s investigations, must prove to the world that it is against corruption, as a party, by dissociating with the wrongdoers in this case, rather than accusing the President of being ungrateful.
But unfortunately, from the very beginning of the issue the UNP first tried to deny any wrongdoing and tried to defend the accused. And now by blaming the President it is continuing to give the impression to the people that it is party to the offence.
