How the DUNF was born and gathered steam under Lalith & Gamini

Volume Three (1992-2022)

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At this time Anuruddha Ratwatte had emerged as the “strong man" of the SLFP. As the cousin of Mrs. B he had access to her and was able to console her regarding the behaviour of her son Anura who was a captive of the anti-Sirimavo faction led by Maithripala Senanayake, who had become a favourite of the UNP. Anuruddha was living in the residence allocated to the leader of the Opposition in Colombo 7. He was the coordinator responsible for getting the signatures of the SLFP members for the impeachment motion.

This was no easy task as some of them like Stanley Tillekeratne were consorting with Premadasa. I would meet Anuruddha in his residence where he was usually in the company of journalists like Victor Ivan and Sunanda Deshapriya who were able to track the anti-Premadasa moves for the readers of "Ravaya" and "Yukthiya" weeklies which they edited. Though the impeachment motion failed and Mrs. B was genuinely distressed by the embarrassment caused to Gamini and Lalith, the SLFP as a party gained by this manoeuvre because they were able to crack the up to now monolithic UNP apart.

Mrs. B and Anura also enjoyed the humiliation of Premadasa whom they disliked at a personal level. Led by Anura who had become a skilled debater, they began to fight back in Parliament and established a cordial relationship between the SLFP and the UNP dissidents. I accompanied Gamini for several meetings with Mrs. B at her Rosmead Place residence. She had Nimal Siripala de Silva as her legal advisor at those meetings.