AN OPPOSITION DETACHED FROM THE PEOPLE

Fingers have been pointed at SLPP politicians for the murder of Thajudeen for a long time, and Vidanagamage was also killed after an explosive interview he had with a You Tuber where he severely criticised the Rajapaksas. Whatever the conspiracy theories and interpretation of these incidents were, this negative publicity seems to have given an edge for the SLPP over the SJB to be in the news.

- By M.S.M. Ayub

Despite the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) having 40 seats in Parliament, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) with only three seats seems to be the main Opposition for the past few weeks, due to the latter being in confrontation with the government than the former.

The SLPP has caught the public eye in the recent days following the passage of the Presidents' Entitlement (Amendment Bill) on September 10 which resulted in SLPP leader and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was adamantly staying in a Rs. 3.5 billion worth state-owned bungalow being forced out from that house.

Although other past Presidents -- Chandrika Kumaratunga, Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe -- were also by this amendment deprived of privileges they hitherto enjoyed, only the SLPP made a huge fuss about its leader’s privileges, making daily headlines.

Also, the SLPP drew more attention following the arrest of several underworld figures hiding in Indonesia in August, as it led to the seizure of over 50,000 kilogrammes of chemicals in a garden belonged to a local SLPP politician in Middeniya. These chemicals later proved to be raw materials used in producing crystal methamphetamine or ICE.

Later, the police claimed that the wife of Anura Vidanagamage, better known as Kajja has identified as her husband a person standing near a vehicle that followed ruggerite Waseem Thajudeen who was mysteriously killed in 2012.