Namal addresses ‘Balu Gune’ as Machan!

 Tuesday, 08 April 2014

Senior SLFPer, deputy minister of Buddha Sasana and Trincomalee district MP M.K.D.S. Gunawardena yesterday (07) complained to the president that his eldest son, MP Namal Rajapaksa, had addressed him as ‘Machan’, Temple Trees sources say.

Gunawardena was elected to parliament at the 1989 election and had been a leading figure behind the success of ‘Pada Yatra’ organized by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 1992. At that time, Namal Rajapaksa had just begun his schooling days.

Prior to entering politics, Gunawardena had served in the Police Department’s kennel division, and his contemporaries affectionately refer to him as ‘Balu Gune.’

“Mr. President, we have been close friends from those days. I do not mind if you hit me or scold me. I did not come to you to complain when Susantha Punchinilame, who was sent from Ratnapura to Trincomalee, attacked me. Punchinimale has wrested power in Trincomalee. Namal Baby calls Susantha as ‘Machan.’ When I was called by him as ‘Machan’, I felt really sad because I am older than even you. Advise Namal Baby not to call me thus,” he has told the president, who has gone into a fit of laughter.

“Do not take it too much, Gune. Boys nowadays are like that. The other thing is Namal Putha is calling you ‘Machan’ because he is fit with you. Think new. Or else, we will have to retire from politics,” the president has said. Looking helplessly for some time at the president, the deputy minister has left.

According to reports reaching us, Namal Rajapaksa calls UNP general secretary Tissa Attanayake, Ravi Karunanayake, John Amaratunga as ‘Sir’, but addresses all SLFP MPs and ministers as ‘Machan.’