Premiership to a non Govigama person

Saturday, 01 September 2012 

The President believes that it would be beneficial to give the post of Prime Minister to a person who is not from the Govigama caste, a source from temple Trees said.

The source made this comment when inquired if a Cabinet reshuffle would take place on September 15^th. Over 80% of the persons in the Cabinet are Govigama Sinhalese. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is an extremist in nationalism and caste. Although there are doubts over him appointing a person who is not from the Govigama caste, the source said that the most trusted persons of the President are Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris and Mervyn Silva.

Peiris represents the Karava caste and Silva is from the Durava caste. Several attempts made by the President to replace Prime Minster D.M. Jayaratne due to his ill health condition had to be shelved due to pressures from the First Family members and other senior government members.

The President at the time considered Ministers Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Dinesh Gunawardena for the post of Prime Minister, but had to defer the plan after his advisors raised objections to such a move.

However, the Premier has been admitted to a private hospital in Sri Lanka due to his ill health. Jayaratne was unable to attend the ceremonies organized for the sacred Kapilavasthu relics although he is also the Minister for Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.

In this backdrop, the President has decided to immediately decide on a Prime Minister and make a change in the post soon after the provincial council elections on the 8^th.

The source from Temple Trees said that Peiris is now at the top of the list of names for the post of Prime Minister since he would not be a threat to Namal Rajapaksa and would not a pose a future political challenge since he represented the Karava caste.

However, he added that the President was also looking at Silva since he is one of the most obedient disciples of the Rajapaksa family. Hence, he said there would not be any surprise if Silva’s name was associated with the post of Prime Minister.

While Silva’s appointment to the post of Prime Minister would be humorous to many, a political animal like Rajapaksa would make the move after thorough calculations.

The official explained that by appointing a person from the Durava caste as Prime Minister Rajapaksa would eliminate any future challenge that Vimukthi Kumaratunge could pose on Namal.