June 23 would become a significant day in the country’s politics and a coincidence for two old Royalists.
Veteran politician and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, an outstanding product of Royal College, Colombo is scheduled to be sworn in as a Member of Parliament on June 23 while yet another prominent old Royalist, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa will commemorate his father, the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s 97th birth anniversary on the same day.
This would be a coincidence for these two old Royalists as both of them entered active politics from the UNP and finally reached the climax becoming the UNP Leader and Deputy Leader.
Sajith Premadasa held the Deputy Leader portfolio until he along with a faction of UNP MPs quit the UNP and formed the new party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).
The SJB led political alliance won 54 seats at the 2020 Parliamentary election and became the main Opposition in Parliament just six months after its formation. The country’s oldest party, the UNP secured its highest ever electoral defeat at the last parliamentary election and could secure only a single National List slot.
The UNP Working Committee unanimously decided to nominate Ranil Wickremesinghe as its National List MP. At present both veteran politicians Wickremesinghe and Premadasa who were one time frontliners of the UNP have become rivals and represent two different political camps.