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A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by R. Sampanthan was at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday evening for a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena to discuss ways of resolving the current political crisis.

The meeting started late due to another engagement of the President and went on for more than one hour with the President trying to explain to them why he had to make the decision of replacing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Sirisena acknowledged that the current cabinet led by Mr. Rajapaksa failed to command the majority in the House. Going a step further, he noted that even in foreign countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany, there were governments in place without majority support of Parliament.

TNA leader Sampanthan intervened to say that in those foreign countries, Parliament never resolved to bring two No- Confidence Motions against a purported Prime Minister and passed them with a majority. He told the President, if he respected democratic norms and the Constitution, he had to appoint whoever had the majority in the House.

Mr. Sampanthan also reiterated that it was not up to the TNA to decide who would be appointed as Prime Minister, but it was a matter for the United National Front (UNF).

Artistes snub two ministers of new government
Two youth artistes at an award Ceremony held at Nelum Pokuna refrained from shaking hands and refused to accept the awards from the newly appointed Ministers Udaya Gammanpila and Duminda Dissanayake.The incident had taken place at the 40th National Youth Awards Ceremony organised jointly by the National Youth Corps and the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.

The two artistes are Sureen Chamikara and Kasun Chathuranga. Mr Chamikara who first came to the stage to receive his award shook hands with actor Sriyantha Mendis, but refused to receive the award from the hands of Mr Dissanayke and Mr Gammanpila. He made a hand gesture to convey the message and received the award from Mr. Mendis.

Following him, Mr Chaturanga also collected his award from the hands of the official who was trying to give the award to Mr Gammanpila to be given away.
He also refused to shake hands with Mr. Dissanayake and even ignored when Gammanpila tried to smile and greet him in the traditional way of clasping his hands.
The two politicians were left with fixed smiles long after the snub.

Constitution and Hansard copies selling fast
Copies of the Constitution and the November 14, 15 and 16 Hansard are in big demand in Parliament.
In the Parliament complex shop that sells souvenirs and copies of the Constitution, more than 200 copies have been sold since the present political crisis erupted on October 26.

It’s the same with copies of the Hansard of the three days when two no-confidence motions were passed against Mahinda Rajapaksa and a vote was taken on his address to the House.

Young Turk intervenes on behalf of millionaire
Memories of deals and commissions during the previous UPFA administration etched in the minds of the Sri Lankan people were replaced by those of the UNF during the three and half years of its government. Many are the accusations.

It seems this is a never ending cycle of events. Those at the apex may say one deal or the other, hurriedly done, is crooked and there was the need to probe who got the kickbacks. They even talk of committees of inquiry to identify ministers and the fat bundles of Sterling Pounds, US Dollars or Rupees they received.

Now comes a different story. A young Turk who loves modern technology intervened. They say he spoke on behalf of the millionaire to an influential brother. Hey presto, it worked. The brother spoke to the financiers who are central. In turn, the bosses there spoke with the millionaire’s establishment. They now say they have been advised to make the balance payment due within two weeks and they could go ahead with their venture.
This is the outcome of the latest détente but something the lads will not announce through a tweet.

Harin and his hurried words
It was at a public meeting in Badulla that former Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando castigated his own leader, ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He did not perhaps realise that telecommunication networks in Sri Lanka were so advanced that the news reached United National Party (UNP) leaders even before he got down from the stage.

Deluged with criticism, Mr. Fernando was forced to have a news conference. He found the easiest way – blamed it on the media. He declared that his speech lasted 43 minutes but the media had only reported just a few sentences lasting some seconds. At least one television channel did not take kindly to Mr. Fernando’s remarks. It announced in its news bulletin his rebuttal at the news conference. That is not all. Later, it broadcast his entire Badulla speech.
Lo and behold, Mr. Fernando has not only made those remarks but said more about his ousted boss. That was more humble pie than he could eat.

Symptoms of politicos seeking self-glory
Colombo District Parliamentarian Champika Ranawaka spoke in Parliament about a former strongman among those who are afflicted by hubris syndrome — a personality disorder that affects those who have substantial power over a length of time.

The condition is identified by its 14 main symptoms which include using power for self-glorification, an almost obsessive focus on personal image, excessive self-confidence accompanied by contempt for advice or criticism of others, speaking as a messiah, reckless and impulsive actions and loss of contact with reality. The condition has been identified by Lord Owen, a former medical doctor and psychiatrist Jonathan Davidson of the Duke University Medical Centre. For examples of hubristic traits and hubris syndrome, they had investigated the psychological profiles of British Prime Ministers and United States Presidents in power in the past 100 years.

Mr. Ranawaka suggested that Sri Lankans get a copy of the book containing details of hubris syndrome and read it so they could become aware of this condition.