22 June 2016 12:00 am
There is a strong rumour doing rounds in political circles that three to four loud-mouthed Diyawanna members from the ‘joint opposition’ group are set to cross over to the yahapalanaya.
This piece of news got wings soon after a Diyawanna member of the group from Uva went missing on the day the No-Confidence motion was taken up for debate after giving a solemn undertaking to vote for it.
The member had more important irons in the fire than the obligation to vote for the resolution, they say. He had to find a safe way out of an impending court case, help his brother to get a coveted high post and above everything he wanted to get at least a deputy office. So he decided to disappear after holding council with a big shot in yahapalanaya. Meanwhile, the government had also held out baits to one member each from upcountry, West and Wayamba. These worthies, they say, had expressed their willingness to do the pole-vault to become part of a Betel leaf government to be formed after throwing the Greens overboard.
These members fear that they would lose their share of the vote segment at the village level still commanded by the former strongman if they throw in their lot with a UNP–led government. “We do not want to suffer the fate that befell Bibile Soysa,” One of the members being wooed by the government had told the go-between the other day.