The Fifth Column

2nd February 1997

What's the difference?

Friday - Found some time to write my diary again. How can I find the time when G.L. is always pestering me with his Select Committee? Anyway, the fellow comes up with a bright idea once in a while. Now he says we should take some UNP proposals and adopt them, so they can't refuse to agree. But I'm not sure about Ranil. They say that the latest joke is - "'What is the difference between Ranil and Chandrika?'', "'One looks like a fool because he doesn't talk about anything; the other looks like a fool because she talks about everything.....''

Saturday - Ah, the Convention Day. So nice to see bus loads of supporters flocking to the stadium to hear my speech. All the pandals have the photographs of Thaaththa, Amma and myself. Poor Amma must be thinking how nice it would have been if Mallo's picture was also there. But I guess he will come back, the day I leave.......

But now, SB has to spoil the fun by having a fight with those TNL fellows again. Earlier, I got away saying it must be the work of some UNP police officers, but what on earth do I say now? I guess the TNL chaps just don't like SB's chubby good looks, which is why they called him Seeni Bola Dissanayake at campus!

Sunday - Had to go to Pieter's funeral. Decent man, if ever there was one and that is why he never made it big in politics. His greatest achievement was becoming. Housing Minister, but I heard he no longer considered it an achievement, ever since Nimal Siripala got the same job!

We could have offered Pieter a grand funeral, but then, the UNPers would have started shouting, saying I'm giving Pieter honours that I didn't give JR! what a pity.............

Monday - GL wants to announce the package, and that we will abolish the presidency, but I told him not to, because I have been reminding the people every now and again that we will do it anyway. Of course, only G.L. and I know that it will be abolished only after my first six years in office!

Tuesday - So, Fowzie has managed to convince Ganeshalingam to step over to our side. Now we can say that someone from a minority is our candidate for Colombo's Mayor. I don't trust the fellow though - he started in the SLFP, then Sunil Rodrigo roped him into the UNP and now he's back in the SLFP. So I guess that it will be only natural if he does a Ronnie-de-Mel and creeps back into the UNP. But who cares about that? For the moment, he's our man.

I have to console Jeevan, though. He thought he will be the candidate and had giant cut-outs of himself placed all over the city. I told him to use them for his next film. Ah, you can't win them all.

Go to Rajpal Abeynayake's Column
Return to the Editorial/Opinion contents page

Go to the Fifth Column Archive