Heads you win and Tails you win syndrome continues in Politics

With the recent defection of the Southern Provincial Council member from the UNP Chrishantha Pushpakumara (aka Raththaran) to the Govt. as evidenced by the photo taken on January 3^rd 2014 where he is seen as accepting his letter of SLFP membership from none other than President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Secretariat, is another indication of the duplicitous politics engaged in by some who merely engage in Politics for personal gain, fame and notoriety.

Sometime ago he asked to be named the Leader of the Opposition in the Southern Provincial Council, as he thought his notoriety, where he is the most recognizable of the Southern Provincial Councilors of the UNP except for the even more infamous last in the preferences, Maithri Guneratne, he was entitled to receive that! Such is what fame, and as a person who was injured in the melee in Matara at the hands of a Herman Guneratne bullet felt as being in the forefront of pity, and media fame.

He was rightly not given it and as he felt his plan B was also a win win situation by joining the Govt. by seeking a ticket on the UPFA, hoping to be the Chief Minister, to the chagrin of the incumbent, who promptly fell ill. It is no shock as the President’s formula for winning elections at Provincial level is to have two principal contenders vying for the top job, so that going head to head they will create the needed Media attention, and hence the votes and use that competition to his advantage, and a jumper fits the bill perfectly. We don’t need any more comparisons, but just look at the Dayasiri Jayesekera win to embolden Raththaran to do the same.

There are also rumors that his Devale, which feeds him, by the tokens of panduru put into the tills by the faithful has not been sufficient to sustain his living, so financial worries and possible promises of coffers being filled may have added to the decision to jump, and follow this win win formula on the part of the latter day politicians who put person before country, and the voters don’t seem to mind or are ignorant as to the real caliber of the person to whom they cast their vote. This is another result of nobodies wanting to be somebodies.

Prior to the Matara incident, the electability of Raththran was also in doubt, and no doubt his own skin was more important than his adherence to party and he acted according to his inner calling. Whilst I disapprove of this sort of action, it is part and parcel of the game being played, and it is for the voter to determine if it is a just game, that they salute or chase away ignominiously.  

In this instance it is the beleaguered voter who suffers at this duplicity, unable to really trust anything that is said or promised.