National government rumours grow as Waruna Rajapaksa claims NPP may bring SJB and UNP figures into key roles amid rising public disapproval.
National government rumours involving the NPP, SJB and UNP have gained fresh attention after former Provincial Council Member Waruna Rajapaksa claimed that preparations are underway to bring selected opposition figures into government.
Speaking through his YouTube channel, Rajapaksa said there is an attempt to form a national government by drawing in talented individuals from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the United National Party. He claimed the government is considering such a move at a time when it is facing strong disapproval from sections of the public.
According to Rajapaksa, the upper middle class social layer that played a special role in helping the current government come to power has now become highly critical of it. He said the main reason for this growing disappointment is the perception that the government has become a “failed” administration.
He argued that this social group understands the country’s economy through data, statistics and performance indicators. Therefore, he said, the government now needs to bring in a group from outside that is publicly recognised as “successful” in order to win back their confidence.
Rajapaksa claimed that the government is especially looking at areas where its failures are more visible. He pointed to institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he said there may be an effort to replace existing figures with individuals from the opposition.
He also said several names are already being circulated on social media as possible opposition figures who could be brought into government for this purpose. Among them, he noted that Eran Wickramaratne has already accepted a government responsibility through the Cricket Interim Board, which, according to Rajapaksa, suggests that Wickramaratne has decided to join the government.
In addition, Rajapaksa said attention is now focused on several other prominent names. He said he suspects that some of these moves may be part of a broader operation to protect the government under the influence of international political currents.
Commenting on Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, Rajapaksa said Premadasa is someone who had previously rejected invitations from Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He said Premadasa does not like to “bat on an unclear pitch,” and because he aspires to become President, the possibility of him joining the government under such circumstances is very low.
Rajapaksa also said that although Ranil Wickremesinghe paved the way for the current President to come to power, the insults and attacks Wickremesinghe later faced make it unlikely that he would support the government of Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He claimed Wickremesinghe’s effort may instead be aimed at bringing down the government.
Rajapaksa’s view is that bringing opposition figures into the government in this manner would change the basic “elite non-elite” divide that helped bring the present administration to power.
His analysis suggests that the government, which rose to power on the anti-elite wave created after the Galle Face struggle, may now risk losing the authenticity of its mandate by bringing some members of that same elite class back into government.
