Rajitha Senaratne’s crossover and the politics of SJB defections

Nambukara Helambage Rajitha Harischandra Senaratne known as Rajitha Senaratne is the latest among well-known politicians to throw in their lot with incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP for Kalutara district met with the President at the Gangaramaya temple in Colombo on 13 August and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pledging unconditional support to Wickremesinghe in the forthcoming Presidential election scheduled for 21 September 2024. Dr. Senaratne is a dentist turned politician who has served as cabinet minister for many years in the past.

Speaking after the signing of the MoU at Gangaramaya, Senaratne described Wickremesinghe as a “man of our time” who altered Sri Lanka’s trajectory by rescuing it from a dire situation. According to newspaper reports, Senaratne had stated this motivated him into supporting Wickremesinghe’s candidacy. 

Speaking further he said if Wickremesinghe is defeated, and the recent achievements are lost, people may only realise too late what he (Wickremesinghe) had accomplished. He said by then, it would be too late for both Wickremesinghe and the country.

Senaratne claimed he had no personal conflict with SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, his wife Jalani Premadasa or other leaders of the party. Senaratne disclosed that Premadasa urged him to remain supportive and not leave the fold. He also claimed that Premadasa promised a national list seat for his son, Chathura Senaratne, in exchange for his continued support. “He assured me that Chathura would be given one of the top three slots,” Senaratne said. 

Senaratne said he held several rounds of discussions with Wickremesinghe and the MoU has no conditions which would personally benefit him. He said they were all for the benefit of the country. 

After welcoming the Kalutara MP, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that for Sri Lanka to move forward, it was essential not only to revive the economy but also reform the political framework. He mentioned that, like himself, Senaratne has radical ideas for transforming society, which is why he extended an invitation for Senaratne to join him in this effort.

Much significance

Rajitha Senaratne’s crossover is of much significance at the present juncture. Close upon a hundred MPs from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) have been deserting the Rajapaksas and joining President Wickremesinghe’s camp in recent times but very few have split from the SJB. There has been much speculation that many SJB parliamentarians were ready to jump ship and re-unite with their mother party the United National Party (UNP). Ground realities have proved otherwise.

Furthermore fate in the form of a Supreme Court ruling has dealt a severe blow to the two MPs from the SJB who joined the Government and became cabinet ministers. Harin Fernando and Manisha Nanayakkara were expelled by the SJB after they switched sides in 2022. Now the SC has upheld the validity of that expulsion. Both lost their MP seats and as a result ceased to be cabinet ministers.

It was surmised by some members of the SJB as well as a few political commentators that no MP from the SJB would break ranks with the party after the Supreme Court verdict. Rajitha Senaratne’s action therefore has shattered this assessment. However it must be noted that even if the SJB takes punitive action against Senaratne, it would take quite a while for the legal procedures to conclude. Parliament would be dissolved and a fresh election announced long before that.

Viewed against this backdrop the changing of sides by Senaratne may “inspire further” SJB crossovers in the coming days. The political grapevine keeps buzzing with the news of crossovers being in the pipeline.

Symbolic blow

From another perspective, Senaratne’s action is a symbolic blow to the SJB in general and its leader Sajith Premadasa in particular. It was only on 8 August that an SJB led political alliance was formed to support SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa’s candidacy at the Presidential election. 27 political parties and groups signed MoUs to form the ‘Samagi Jana Sandhanaya’ grand alliance. The Samagi Jana Sandhanaya (SBS) projected a positive “winner” image for Sajith Premadasa. There were even boasts that no MP from the SJB would ever cross over.

That positive image has been slightly dented by Senaratne’s crossover. The image may get further eroded if there are more crossers in the wake of Senaratne crossing over. If Sajith is able to prevent further splits then Senaratne’s crossover would have little impact. It is however clear from Rajitha’s speech at Gangaramaya that Sajith had tried hard to stop Senaratne jumping ship to the extent of even offering his son a national list MP post.

If more SJB MPs follow in the footsteps of Rajitha in the future, one of the reasons that may be cited by potential side switchers could be the composition of the SBS. The inclusion of some former SLPP stalwarts in the SJB led alliance could be pinpointed to justify their change of sides. Already some of the “old” SJB parliamentarians are reportedly unhappy over the importance being given to the “new” entrants. It is quite possible that Ranil took extra pains to “welcome” Rajitha into his camp to encourage this process.

High ground

Sajith Premadasa has been claiming the moral high ground in criticising Ranil Wickremesinghe for serving as President with the backing of “Pohottuwa” MPs. He has spurned invitations by the President to cooperate with the Government and participate in the team effort to emancipate Sri Lanka economically saying he won’t join corrupt crooks. Despite this lofty stance, Premadasa has welcomed a large number of former SLPP parliamentarians including some who held high posts in the Pohottuwa to the SBS alliance. This could provide some SJB MPs sufficient grounds to split from Sajith. Senaratne’s move could be the first call of the Cuckoo heralding an SJB “crossover spring”. Moreover Sajith is in no position to criticise Ranil for consorting with SLPP elements now.

Interestingly enough Rajitha Senaratne’s crossover to Ranil’s side has been long anticipated. In fact many had been puzzled by the lengthy delay. Ironically a key factor contributing to this delay was President Ranil Wickremesinghe himself. The political cold war that prevailed between Ranil and Basil also played a part. Another factor was Sajith Premadasa’s determination to prevent MPs quitting his party. What had then happened was this. 

In the early days after he assumed office as executive president, Ranil Wickremesinghe engaged in efforts to entice MPs from the parties in opposition to the side of the treasury benches. His intention was two-fold. Firstly he wanted the Government to be broadly representative as possible. Secondly, he wanted to reduce his dependence on the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) as much as possible. 

Tamil and Muslim trio

The Opposition parties got jittery over this. A trio of Tamil and Muslim MPs comprising two party leaders and a senior party MP met Wickremesinghe. They wanted Ranil to stop attempts to poach their MPs. They promised to support all progressive measures initiated by his Government. Ranil agreed and assured them that he would not encourage minority party MPs to join Government ranks. He was true to his word. When some Tamil and Muslim MPs wanted to cross over from the Opposition, Ranil blocked them. 

During discussions with the trio, one Opposition MP regarded as being close to the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa made a suggestion. He requested Ranil not to encourage defections from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) just as he had agreed not to woo Tamil and Muslim party MPs. 

Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to do so. He pointed out that most of the SJB parliamentarians were originally from the UNP. They had deserted the mother party and contested on the break-away SJB ticket in 2020. As such all former UNP members could return to the mother party if they so desired. He would accept them all as part of a re-unifying process of the UNP.

Kalutara MP

Thereafter efforts were made to draw MPs from the SJB into the Government. Instead of bringing over MPs on an individual basis, the UNP wanted a group or groups of MPs from the SJB to cross over. Demands were made for minister and state minister posts. There was agreement on some. Ultimately a bloc of MPs led by Kalutara district MP Dr. Rajitha Senaratne was expected to cross over in mid-2023. 

A news report in the Daily Mirror of 6 April 2023 quoting Dr. Rajitha Senaratne indicated this. Here is an excerpt: “Several Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MPs are willing to support President Ranil Wickremesinghe and will do so as a group if the party fails to take a decision, SJB MP Rajitha Senaratne said today.

“MPs like Harsha de Silva are willing to support President Wickremesinghe no matter what anyone says. We will support the President as a group if the party fails to make a decision,” the MP said responding to a question raised by journalists at a media briefing. “Also, he said the notion that the President has put the country on a better position is a reality”. 

This Senaratne-led mass defection from the SJB did not take place as expected in 2023. Initially there was a delay due to the Health Ministry portfolio. Dr. Rajitha Senaratne was eyeing that but the then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella refused to let go of it. Subsequently Senaratne was ready to accept another ministry. But there was another hitch. 

Basil Rajapaksa 

SLPP MP from Kalutara “Raththaran” Rohitha Abeygunawardena objected. He said if fellow Kalutara district MP Senaratne was made Cabinet minister that would place him (Rohitha) at a disadvantage when Parliament elections were held. Therefore he too should be made Cabinet minister alongside Rajitha, demanded Rohitha. SLPP “party boss” Basil Rajapaksa too backed Rohitha in this. 

Earlier Basil Rajapaksa had wanted President Wickremesinghe to appoint several SLPP parliamentarians as state ministers and Cabinet ministers, Ranil had reluctantly accommodated some but refused to appoint others. Now Basil who was then SLPP national organiser wanted “equal treatment” for his party. If Wickremesinghe wanted to appoint an SJB “crosser” then he should appoint an SLPP member also to a similar post. This impossible demand dampened Wickremesinghe’s spirits. The SJB crossover project was put on hold. 

Sajith Premadasa

Meanwhile, SJB leader Sajith Premadasa also fought back against the attempts to get his party MPs to break away. When speculative reports about an imminent split in the SJB began appearing in the media, Sajith Premadasa denied that his party MPs were going to defect. He lashed out at the Government and said such misleading reports were being planted in the media by the Government. 

Sajith also accused the Ranil Government of conspiring to entice MPs from his party by offering Rs. 200 million to each MP. Premadasa asserted that none of his party MPs could be tempted by such offers. 

“We have gotten to know that the Government’s estimate for an MP is Rs. 200 million, the Government thinks that when they show Rs. 200 million to our MPs they will beg to join the Government,” said Premadasa according to a newspaper report published last year. “I would like to say that the MPs of the SJB are not ready to take part in the Government’s auction of MPs,” he said.

Sajith Premadasa taking umbrage over the attempt by the Wickremesinghe Government to take away his MPs was quite understandable. After all, no party leader would like his MPs to split and join another party or form a new one. 

The irony was that in 2020, Premadasa himself took away the majority of MPs from the UNP of which he was a member and formed the SJB anew. When that happened the UNP or its leader Wickremesinghe did not accuse Sajith of offering financial “incentives” to attract the green elephant MPs.

Pre-emptive measures

Notwithstanding Sajith’s denial and assertion that his MPs would not split, it did appear that the SJB leader was aware of a potential mass defection and was engaging in pre-emptive measures to prevent it.

Premadasa’s accusation that MPs are being offered Rs. 200 million was perceived as an attempt to deter potential defectors. He was indirectly warning his party MPs that if the MPs break away, it would be insinuated that they did so for cash and that each MP’s reputation would be tarnished. Given the fact that a powerful media organisation was solidly backing Sajith, there was an indirect veiled threat that the renegade MPs could be targeted viciously by the pro-Premadasa media. Furthermore Sajith Premadasa began interacting and socialising with his MPs more and tried to bond with them to avert defections. 

Mistrust of MPs

Premadasa’s anxiety and insecurity over the possibility of his MPs joining the Government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe stemmed from his mistrust of his party colleagues. It may be recalled that almost all the current SJB Parliamentarians were UNP members in the past. 

Most of them had no problems with Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership and were not favourably disposed towards Sajith Premadasa’s leadership ambition. Yet, they deserted Wickremesinghe and the UNP en masse and together with Premadasa formed the SJB. 

This was not due to any ill will towards Ranil or any goodwill towards Sajith. They had gauged the mood of the electorate through various means including opinion polls and had assessed that Ranil’s stock was low while Sajith’s was high. They realised their electoral prospects were dismal if they remained with Ranil and the UNP. 

So, they hitched their wagon to the Sajith star and transformed from UNP into SJB. Politically what they did then seemed correct when the UNP was wiped out at the 2020 Parliamentary poll. However, the return of Ranil to Parliament and then becoming executive president altered the situation. Ranil’s stock began rising high. Crossing over to the Government or returning to the UNP now seemed an alluring prospect to many in the SJB. There was also disgruntlement over Sajith’s leadership.

2024 Presidential election

With the 2024 Presidential election drawing near, a re-alignment of political parties and MPs became a distinct possibility. Although the political climate was conducive to potential SJB crossovers, there was very little forward movement on that front in the past months. 

This was mainly due to President Wickremesinghe who did not want “pre-mature” crossovers from the SJB Ranil was biding his time for an opportune moment in the future. Hence there were no cross-overs despite speculative reports to the contrary appearing occasionally in the media. 

May Day

A case in point was what happened on May Day this year. Some UNP stalwarts acting independently had made arrangements for 11 MPs from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) to cross over to the Government side by appearing on the UNP stage on May Day. Some of them had been ministers in the Government headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe from 2015 to 2019. The SJB hierarchy got suspicious about this. Some SJB Bigwigs engaged in “sweet and sour” talks with the potential dissidents to prevent them from pole vaulting. 

In an unexpected turn of events the crossover did not take place. This was not because of pressure from the SJB high command. It was due to the intervention of President Wickremesinghe himself. When Ranil got to know about the crossover plan hatched by his UNP colleagues, he vetoed it. 

The UNP leader had communicated with his party deputies involved in the exercise and told them to call it off. He had also got in touch with some of the SJB parliamentarians concerned and asked them to delay their defection plans. 

Wickremesinghe had explained the reasons as to why he did not want a SJB crossover at that point in time to party leaders as well as potential SJB defectors. Ranil then said that he was planning to contest the Presidential election as an independent non-party candidate backed by an assorted alliance of parties, groups and individuals. He would declare his candidacy some weeks before the election. When that happened Ranil wanted everyone including SJB MPs to support him by joining the alliance backing him. As such he did not want crossovers earlier.. 

Preventive measures

This then was the reason for the delay in SJB parliamentarians crossing over. Even as these MPs were marking time, the SJB hierarchy undertook certain measures to prevent the anticipated crossovers. Firstly the SJB members were ‘brainwashed” into believing that Ranil would be contesting as the SLPP candidate and there would have no need for SJB defectors. This confused many. 

Secondly an opinion poll was allegedly commissioned on behalf of the party. According to an SJB MP, this “mysterious” poll indicated that Sajith would win the presidential election with a thumping majority. When this was confidentially circulated, many MPs in the SJB began having second thoughts about leaving the SJB. They did not want to be on the losing side by joining Ranil.

Thirdly Sajith began identifying those whom he thought were likely to join Ranil. He then compelled them to make statements attacking Wickremesinghe or conduct meetings in their districts that were critical of the president. Sajith felt this would deter the potential crossers from going over to Ranil’s camp.

More SJB crossovers?

It is in this context that Rajitha Senaratne has crossed over. In his speech at Gangaramaya, Senaratne has disclosed how Premadasa tried to prevent by even offering a national list MP slot to his son a former Gampaha district MP. Ranil in his speech has stated that he had invited Rajitha to join him. This means that the moratorium imposed by Ranil on SJB MPs joining him is now over. The question that arises is will Rajitha Senaratne’s move be followed by more MPs from the SJB crossing over to Ranil’s camp?

Even though there are many potential defectors in the SJB, they still seem hesitant to cross. With more than a hundred SLPP MPs joining Ranil, the SJB MPs may be wary about their position in the pro-Ranil alliance if they cross. Also the propaganda that Sajith may win may also constrain them from deserting him. 

SJB “black sheep”

Nevertheless these MPs know that even if they don’t cross now, Sajith will treat them as “black sheep” in the future. They will be fearful that they may not get nominations again in a Parliamentary election. So they may have no choice but to support Ranil and re-join the UNP. It remains to be seen as to whether Rajitha Senaratne’s crossover would trigger more defections from the SJB or not.

(The writer can be reached at 

[email protected].