OF RACE HORSES AND “SB”

”SB jumps to the other side”: On the same day there was a nice photograph in most newspapers of the President embracing and kissing SB.

In Sri Lanka, there are no politicians, what we have are Race Horses. Not the kind of horses who tire themselves by drawing carriages: but trained race horses capable of making millions of rupees and they are specially bred for this purpose.

And they take part in races with the sole aim of coming first – or at least the second. It was those days that we had horses who wanted to do some good work for their area and they were least worried about their places in the race. What they wanted was to earn a good name in their community and to do some service for their constituency.

But, nowadays, what we have are only race horses whose only ambition is to somehow win their races and make some quick millions. Apart from that they don’t care two hoots about the people, just like the real race horses are not bothered about the spectators.

When they want to somehow win the race, they do not hesitate to jump from their track to the next track. A good racing horse like SB who has enough experience in changing the track, is now determined to come second in the race – that is to become the Prime Minister.

But what SB should keep in mind is that he has to run this race in competition with stronger and better racing horses such as Gotabhaya, Basil, DM, Sirisena etc. So, the only power that SB has got in this race is Mahinda and his winning the first place in this race. But the question is even if Mahinda wins, what will happen to SB’s ambition of coming in the second place.

We have a good precedent of such a race during JR’s government. At that time, JR had 3 very powerful racing horses in Premadasa, Lalith and Gamini. JR allowed these 3 horses to run and Premadasa managed to come in the second place. So, everyone expected Premadasa to choose a 2nd in command to him from either Lalith or Gamini. But what really happened is, Premadasa started to eliminate Lalith and Gamini as he perceived them to be challengers to his position. The end result : all three died unexpectedly and with that, the Grand Old Party, UNP, also almost died a natural death.

What is going to befall SLFP now is the same fate. After the big race, however much Mahinda tries to keep his front running horses under control he will not suceed in his effforts mainly due to their intransigence. When that happens, the SLFP will also meet with the same end as the UNP.

But the question is, knowing this very well, why did Mahinda decide to take in SB.

Clearly, what Mahinda wanted was not to take in SB but to take revenge from Ranil. In other words, to avenge what Sarath Fonseka did to him. For the moment, Mahinda must be feeling satisfied that he took his revenge, but the real drama starts when SB starts running around in circles demanding his share of the pie. When that happens, Mahinda will be forced to take the same steps that Premadasa took, for his survival.

But, they should all realize that before running the race for the Premiership, they should first complete the race for the Presidency. There is a difference this time: in addition to the usual political race horses one finds in every election, this time there is a “dark horse” too. So, race horses like SB should take this dark horse seriously and race with him prior to starting the race for the Premiership.

As to who is going go win that race, only experienced punters can predict.