Wijetunga calls a general election and my first time in Parliament

I had several meetings with Ronnie at his home in Charles Drive and he agreed to join Wijetunga and the UNP since his "bete noir" Premadasa had left the scene. With Anura and Gamini on his side Wijetunga was trying to add to his winning streak by inducting Ronnie amid much appreciation from the party and the media as a unifier after the inter party conflicts which marked the earlier regime. He also recruited Rajitha Senaratne who had left Vijaya-Chandrika's Mahajana Party after it decided to ally itself with the revitalized SLFP, now virtually led by its former chief CBK.

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During my discussions with the President it became clear that he in his Cabinet. Since they were together in the JRJ Cabinet he had great respect for the then Finance Minister. Ronnie had gone into hibernation during the Premadasa regime. There was not much love lost between the two because as Finance Minister Ronnie was constantly rejecting the former's requests for more money to spend on social welfare measures which would have wrecked the fiscal discipline of his budget but enhanced the Prime Minister's image.

There were many arguments in Cabinet about allocations for competing ministries and Premadasa's famous wrath was visited on Ronnie who did not contest the Parliamentary election in 1989. He supported the DUNF but did not take membership. His wife Mallika however became a member and was an enthusiastic supporter of the party in the south. At Wijetunga's request I appealed to Ronnie who after a spell in the UK had come back and was watching the evolving political situation with great interest.

I had several meetings with Ronnie at his home in Charles Drive and he agreed to join Wijetunga and the UNP since his "bete noir" Premadasa had left the scene. With Anura and Gamini on his side Wijetunga was trying to add to his winning streak by inducting Ronnie amid much appreciation from the party and the media as a unifier after the inter party conflicts which marked the earlier regime. He also recruited Rajitha Senaratne who had left VijayaChandrika's Mahajana Party after it decided to ally itself with the revitalized SLFP, now virtually led by its former chief CBK.

Again the question of creating a slot in the national list arose, this time for Ronnie. Again the sitting members were playing hard to get. However after much effort one was found who was willing to resign for both love and money. A house in Colombo and a substantial sum of money were the change agents and Ronnie took his place as Minister of Shipping in the Wijetunga Cabinet.