Lalith and Gamini's plight after Premadasa was elected president

But what of Lalith and Gamini who had been led to believe that the call (to be the new prime minister) will come to one of them? They were disappointed but there was nothing they could do about it.

- (Excerpted from Vol. 3 of the SARATH AMUNUGAMA autobiography)

Furthermore, they had been given plum positions in the Cabinet though removed from their earlier portfolios. Lalith was made Minister of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives and Gamini was appointed the Minister of Plantations.

When I visited them in their homes they were enthusiastically studying their subjects and planning reforms. Gamini had many friends among the planter community and they were busy in his house preparing future plans. Their chief recommendation was to imaginatively integrate the estates with the surrounding villages so that the plantation workers too could benefit from the welfare policies of the Government.

On the other hand, hard work and greater productivity of the plantation workers would be an example to the nearby villagers. But the problem was with the hangers on of Gamini and Lalith. They had planned to ride high in the entourages of their leader who would be prime minister. Since they were thwarted they began to slander the new president, little realizing that tale carriers would interpret them as the utterances of the disappointed duo. As a result the atmosphere became colder by the day and Gamini in particular, whose hangers on were extremely vicious in using caste innuendos against the P president, began to feel the hostility of the president which was a contrast to the warm relationship that he had with JRJ and Mrs. Jayewardene.

On being wrongly advised that he should stay out of the way for a while he planned to ask for leave of absence to follow a degree at Cambridge University. BH Farmer, who wrote a classic work on “Pioneer Peasant Colonization in Ceylon" and was a teacher in a Cambridge college accepted him as a student. Rajiv Gandhi also supported Gamini's application which infuriated Premadasa still more and was probably the last straw in his relationship with Gamini - his bete noir.