The once impenetrable fortress of Shammi Silva appears to be crumbling at the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket and his days of masterly dictatorship are said to be numbered.
An inside source at SLC who is not aligned to any faction said the cracks first showed when the Head of the National Development Committee, Anura Weerasinghe, who was unable to stomach Silva’s rowdy dictates made a complaint at the Cinnamon Gardens Police that he is being harassed and threatened.
Fearing that the spark could trigger a massive fire at SLC, Silva decided to make peace with Weerasinghe and both parties are said to have made their way to the Cinnamon Gardens Police station, where on being questioned the former had said that he had been misunderstood by the latter during an argument over an issue.
SLC President Shammi Silva
Weerasinghe then for reasons best known to him told Police that he wanted to withdraw the complaint against Silva and had decided to shake hands and work for the greater good of cricket and that what transpired should not stand in the way of their work connected to development plans at SLC.
But Weerasinghe had the biggest shock of his life at an Exco meeting when Silva walked out, unable to stand Weerasinghe’s presence.
Anura Weerasinghe – Head of the National Development Committee
Soon after Silva walked out, SLC Vice President Jayantha Dharmadasa, made a statement in the presence of the rest of the Exco Members and in lightning speed fired Weerasinghe saying he is no longer wanted and required by SLC to function in his post.
This is what triggered five Exco Members to rebel against Dharmadasa, who is a staunch supporter of Silva who in turn supported him with SLC funds so he could take along a bevy of film stars for last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia that only last month created massive street protests and called on Silva and Dharmadasa to resign.
Dharmadasa is also accused of using SLC funds to prop up his Nawaloka Hospital that is said to be going bankrupt while at the same time bagging all the contracts as SLC’s Medical Partner for the players connected to insurance matters.
But insiders at SLC say the worst is yet to come after the emergence of the faction opposed to Silva.
One of them playing a key role in the rebellion and ouster of Silva and Dharmadasa from SLC is Mohan de Silva who is said to be the only one that has public respect.
In 2006 De Silva was poised to become SLC president uncontested, but Dharmadasa made a dirty foul move and got the then Sports Minister Jeewan Kumaranatunga to outlaw the election and install an Interim Committee.
Kumaranatunga, who was a film star at one time had to accede to Dharmadasa’s request to make him the Interim Committee Chairman, as he (Dharmadasa) as Chairman of the Film Corporation had ordered the release of Kumaranatunga’s film’s ahead of other films that were in the waiting list.
