{"id":78340,"date":"2018-06-13T22:58:50","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T04:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=78340"},"modified":"2018-06-13T15:06:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T22:06:41","slug":"did-outgoing-us-envoy-discuss-gotabayas-presidential-candidature-with-mahinda-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/06\/13\/did-outgoing-us-envoy-discuss-gotabayas-presidential-candidature-with-mahinda-rajapaksa\/","title":{"rendered":"Did outgoing US envoy discuss Gotabaya\u2019s Presidential candidature with Mahinda Rajapaksa?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
Colombo, June 13 (newsin.asia): Mystery surrounds what transpired during \u00a0outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap\u2019s courtesy call on former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa last Sunday.\u00a0On Wednesday,\u00a0The Island<\/em>\u00a0daily quoted a source close to the former President to say that Ambassador Keshap told Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR for short) that his younger brother and former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is unpopular\u201d thereby hinting that Gotabaya will not be able to win the next Presidential election to be held in January 2020.<\/div>\n
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It is widely rumored that the Joint Opposition and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by MR will field Gotabaya as their candidate because MR himself cannot contest for a third time under the 19 th.Amendment of the constitution enacted in 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Did<\/div>\n

But\u00a0The Island<\/em>\u00a0also quoted MR\u2019s spokesman to say that the US Ambassador had not raised the issue of Gotabhaya\u2019s candidature. In a categorical denial\u201d, MR\u2019s spokesman said that the question of Gotabhaya\u2019s candidature had not figured in the discussions.<\/p>\n

However, a source close to Gotabaya told this correspondent \u00a0that Ambassador Keshap had asked MR if Gotabaya is going to be put up as the candidate of the group.<\/p>\n

MR\u2019s reply was that no decision has been taken on candidature and that it is too early to take a decision given the fact that there are 15 more months to go for the next election.<\/p>\n

MR further said that there are a number of possible candidates and a decision on who to field will be taken at the appropriate time.<\/p>\n

The source also said that Keshap enquired about Gotabaya\u2019s recent visit to China. \u00a0MR said that Gotabaya had been a research fellow in a Chinese University to work on the successful war against terrorism in Sri Lanka. Gotabaya had been invited to do the same by a Singapore university too, as Sri Lanka\u2019s experience in ending the terrorist and separatist menace is invaluable to many countries faced with the same problem.<\/p>\n

Sources said that Ambassador Keshap\u2019s apprehension is understandable because Gotabaya is set to win the election if put up as the candidate.<\/p>\n

The envoy\u2019s query shows the existence of\u00a0Gota Bhaya<\/em>\u00a0or a Gota Phobia,\u201d one of the sources said in a lighter vein.<\/p>\n

The West sees Gotabaya as a fiercely nationalistic and anti-West person who fully endorsed his brother MR\u2019s anti-West posture during Eelam War IV (2006-2009) and also the latter\u2019s pro-China policies after the war.<\/p>\n

His national security \u2018think tank\u2019 is said to be packed with anti-US and anti-West elements who had vigorously opposed any accommodation with the US and \u00a0the West during and after the war when the West was taking up human rights issues in the UN.<\/p>\n

MR was President and Gotabaya was Defense Secretary during Eelam War IV which broke the military might of the separatist Tamil Tigers.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya is undoubtedly popular among the majority Sinhalese community for his handling of the defense ministry during the war; his strong opposition to minority communal extremism\u2019; his post-war developmental work; and his pro-private sector stance.<\/p>\n

But the minority Tamils and Muslims have deep apprehensions about his sense of fairness. His\u00a0 belief in the efficacy of strong arm methods is also feared.<\/p>\n

It is certain that Gotabaya would never accede to the Tamils\u2019 demand for greater devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking North and East and allow Muslims to go their own way in matters of cultural autonomy which is seen as separatist\u201d culturally if not territorially.<\/p>\n

Though Gotabaya is now vigorously cultivating the Muslims using Ramzan Iftar parties to the maximum to touch base with Muslims, \u00a0the Muslims by and large take his new stance with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n

His denial of responsibility for the anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama in 2014, which turned the Muslims away from his brother MR in the January 2015 Presidential election, has not cut ice with most Muslims.<\/p>\n

The Tamils by and large are against Gotabaya s he will be a bigger stumbling block in the way of their progress as a distinct community with distinct political and territorial rights than his elder brother MR.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At any rate, Gotabaya has made no effort\u00a0 to cultivate the Tamils thus far.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya has another handicap \u2013 his US citizenship. He is a dual citizen. The 19 th.Amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution enacted in 2015 bars people with dual citizenship from standing for public offices.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0 Gotabaya could renounce his US citizenship. And it is said in political circles that he has applied for renunciation but is yet to get a response. It is said that the US could delay permission to quit US citizenship and thus prevent him from contesting the Presidential poll.<\/p>\n

As of now, the Joint Opposition is keen on keen on putting up Gotabaya as its candidate given his war hero\u201d status and his excellent performance as a development administrator after the war. MR has even told the media that there is a popular\u201d demand for Gotabaya\u2019s candidature.<\/p>\n

But the Joint Opposition is preparing itself for various eventualities.\u00a0 It has an unofficial panel of possible candidates. They are as follows and in the following order: Gotabaya Rajapaksa,\u00a0 younger brother of MR; Chamal Rajapaksa, elder brother of MR and former Speaker of parliament; Basil Rajapaksa, MR\u2019s brother and\u00a0 former Economic Affairs Minister and chief election organizer; and lastly, Dinesh Gunawardene, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) who hails from a very distinguished \u00a0family with a political history going back to pre-independence days.<\/p>\n

(The featured image at the top shows US Ambassador Atul Keshap)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, June 13 (newsin.asia): Mystery surrounds what transpired during \u00a0outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap\u2019s courtesy call on former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa last Sunday.\u00a0On Wednesday,\u00a0The Island\u00a0daily quoted a source close to the former President to say that Ambassador Keshap told Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR for short) that his younger brother and former Defense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}