PM Ranil's right-hand man of 33 years resigns

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Special Assistant to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sudath Chandrasekara, has resigned from his post.

In his seven-page resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Sudath Chandrasekara has expressed his views and frustration on the actions of the Prime Minister, citing numerous examples.

The letter also notes that the country and the United National Party are in this current sad state because of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The following is a translation of the letter written by Sudath Chandrasekara.

Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe,

Resignation from service

Hon. Prime Minister/ Leader,

The future of the country and the party has reached a tragic crossroad. For this, chiefly, the individual 

who is ultimately responsible is you – which is why I thought of writing this letter.

My understanding of your character, actions, and plans – goes beyond all others.

Your main characteristic when you are given power is that you go into an imaginary world designed for 

you. This is the cause of all ills. If one sees you occasionally commending or thanking people, it is at a time when you are helpless. You don’t know what gratefulness is – or pretending to not know it - is your cunning 

action. Had I seen in you this basic quality that should be shown by a leader, I would, 

regardless of whether it’s night or day, have fulfilled the dream of making you president a long time ago. 

However, I feel that now we are too late. You continue to make it a dream which will never come true.

My hopes, yours, as well as the hopes of all party loyalists, have now completed gone to waste. Not only 

have you completely destroyed your image, you continue to destroy the party as well. Then, what I had 

for you was a special respectful love. But at this moment, you are destroying the party through your 

behaviour and your inability to make decisions.

The flower bud obtained a significant victory at this election, not because of their extraordinary skill, but 

because of your diluted leadership.

At a time when party supporters were enraged when they heard the name 'Ranil', and when they stood 

against you as one, and when there was no one who stepped up on behalf of you when you were 

rendered helpless - the communication unit set up by me, in the midst of all the threats, insults and 

intimidation, courageously travelled from village to village to change the mindset of the party supporters. I provided leadership for that. Not only that, I succeeded in recruiting 36,000 members, 576 electoral officers, 7,800 strong and sound party activists and 134 mentors.

I can say it with pride that I managed to transform the Communication Unit as the most active branch of the organisation to have ever been created in the party.

Back then, the party was not even able to muster a single meeting with your leadership and at that time 

the Communication Unit managed to hold the most successful May Day March and May Day Rally in 

Kurunegala.

For the operations and activities of the Communication Unit, I never obtained a red cent from the party and it was all done until today, with the assistance of my friends.

The Communication Unit comprises of the elephants that pulled the weight to protect you and the party. It was from you that I learned, the elephants who pull the weight will never be allowed to take part in the 

parade.

When you took oaths as Prime Minister, it was a victory for all of us because it bore fruit to all our dreams. On several occasions, I requested you to host a reception at Temple Trees to celebrate this win and say thank you to all. But what you told me was to refer the matter to "Sagala". It's been three years since I made that request and I am ashamed and disappointed for not being able to make that a reality.

I have been rendered helpless in the presence of my colleagues. If this is the fate that has befallen me for going beyond my official capacity and committing myself to you, what more can I say about the innocent party supporters?

Once we were elected into power, when we were assigning political appointments, I handed over to you 

a list of 50 names from the Communications Unit on a number of occasions. However, not a single person from the list had been given an appointment.

This is because they did not go to Royal College and were the elephants who pulled weight and were not part of the parades.

If they were given at least the slightest recognition, they would undoubtedly pull the weight on your behalf forever.

However, when some of our members were chasing ministers for appointments and position, they 

received the response "You worked for Ranil, so go ask it from him."

If the procession organized against you by the group led by Shiral Lakthilake and Maithri Gunaratne 

reached Colombo from Matara back then, you becoming the Prime Minister in the present day would 

have just been a dream.

Back then, together with Mangala Samaraweera, I provided leadership to the Cinnamon Pole Army and 

steered the groups headed by the Communications Unit to protect you and the party.

As everyone else had done, you too had forgotten that.

After you were elected as Prime Minister, I requested you to invite to Temple Trees the 86 people who were named as defendants in the Cinnamon Pole Case and appreciate them, however, I feel ashamed to say you have not even provided an opportunity for that as well.

Three of them have already passed away and two of them will be paralyzed forever, why? Because of the beatings and the bullets they got when they took to the streets to protect you.

Today they are helpless. All they can do now is bear the costs for the court hearings and their daily 

refreshments and return home, cursing you every single day.

We have to now ask ourselves more than a thousand times, whether we have been cursed by the Gods, who have been angered because we protected you.

Last week at the conclusion of the Cinnamon Pole Case at the Matara Court, after looking at the sorrow on the faces of those people and what they had to say with rage in their hearts, what I felt was, the day they take the Cinnamon Pole to their hands against you is not far away.

If such a day dawn, as before, I will not think twice about providing leadership to them. I cannot in anyway betray them and not lead them.

Whenever our party is elected to power, the party forgets about the supporters who elected it, and 

only think about oneself and their close associates. When that was taking place I must have mentioned it you more than 100 times that we were making the wrong move.

The party cannot survive without the supporters and likewise, the government cannot survive 

without the party. I have pleaded with you on countless occasion to give priority to the party over close associates. However, those pleas fell on deaf ears.

During the recent years, we held weekly or daily meetings at Temple Trees wasting countless amount of 

hours. All those meetings were speeches and there was no action which was taken and what we are experiencing now is the result of the failure to do so.

Since the very day we were elected into power, I expressed the importance of organizing conferences at electoral levels to raise awareness among the party supporters and maintain a healthy relationship with them.

Sadly, the only times the party supporters were required was for the May Day Rally, the party conference 

and during the election period.

The results of these actions? - the party supporters have made that clear. It has been just over a month since we suffered an election defeat. Unfortunately, you have not even made an attempt to thank the party supporters, candidates, Provincial Councilors and Organisers who committed themselves for the 

elections. The reason for that is because you operate with an attitude which is: "If you want, elect me as your Prime Minister, if not, just stay quiet".

I am clearly aware of the leaders who hold responsible positions in the party that have neglected the party supporters. That is because they have their own personal agendas.

In conclusion, I have to mention something about me as well. My present office was the garage at 

Sirikotha. It was I who built it, purchased office equipment and converted it into an office space. I 

operated as a nobody from within that confined space. I was not given any official task or responsibility.

If I ask what have I not done for you since the 10th of January 1985, you would be unable to 

respond to that, however, your conscience would know what I have done for you.

When I tried to resign from my position on several previous occasion, you told me "Sudath you can 

create something different and you are a leader who is talented and can execute responsibilities. Therefore I need your services."

The talented leader who you referred to back then, was transformed into a person with no duty, by none

other than you.

If you look at your own agenda when you were not in power, you worked in a way to keep me at Sirikotha forever, the same way you did to Sunil Magammana who worked as your private secretary as well as Sunil Premasiri and Sampson.

You will realize you made a mistake by evaluating me at their level and it is with great sadness I say, 

you will realize your mistake very soon.

I committed myself to you and if you have the heart to betray me in this manner, I strongly believe the people and the Gods will approve of me working against you.

I strongly believe, according to my conscience this is not something wrong. However, when I identify my enemy, I will not remain patient at all.

When Mahinda Rajapaksa was president he called me on three separate occasions and request that I join with him. I have mentioned this to you as well.

I will not become a traitor for mere benefits and privileges.

During the riots in 1988, when death threats were leveled against you and when the personnel in your 

security detail abandoned you, I protected your life, putting my life on the line. When threats were leveled against you by Prabhakaran, I was fearless in protecting you, using the latest security tactics. I 

was with you like a shadow. I did not think about myself, but I thought about you and your life and stood 

for your safety, day and night.

Because of you, I became the Batalanda murderer, I became the person who assassinated Gamini 

Athukorala. For you, I became the person who was responsible for the death of Riyanzie Algama - the 

person who committed self-immolation opposite the Sirikotha (You did not even attend the funeral of 

Riyanzie). I was humiliated and I was called a red-lipped, lover boy. That was the wealth I accumulated, 

that was the prestige I was left with.

Apart from that wealth, I do not own a house or a single perch of land. I do not even have another mode of income. To date, I live in houses that my friends pay the rent for. I have to move from one house to 

another like a gypsy, after two years, because the house owners increase their rent after two years. But I 

am full of pride because my hands are clean.

I possess the courage to get up when I fall. I was appointed as your personal secretary after I was a victim of political revenge when Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sent me on compulsory leave twice. The reason was my service for you and nothing else. I soon realized that you did not even have the heart to inquire into how I lived during the time I was sent on compulsory leave without pay.

There were 76 cases that were being investigated against me by the Criminal Investigations Department

(Including the bombing of the municipal council). Under your governments in 2001 and 2015, Nothing happened to the political revenge that I underwent. I do not even have a pension today. When I brought this matter up with you, your response was to inform "Sagala". When I did that, his response was to appeal to the Sirikotha like everyone else. To this day, the documents are at Sirikotha. My peers are DIGs now.

If this is the state I am in, what of the innocent people in the country and the party supporters? What will

be their fate?

I was your personal secretary, that position has now been dwindled down to a position called "Special Assistant." I will not be petty enough to list out the injustices that you have done to me. I will require thousands of pages to write those. But I have felt on numerous occasions that I have been a fool to protect those secrets.

I think it is a crime against the nation to continue to remain at Sirikotha while being paid Rs.53,000 from 

the government, a vehicle and Rs. 22,000 as a fuel allowance, without actually doing any work.

I can see that you, along with your group of friends, are dragging the country and the party to its grave.

I will never forget the support that you provided by giving me Rs. 100,000 in the year 1995 and by 

admitting my daughter into Ladies College during your mothers funeral.

I have forwarded this letter of resignation, from the position of Special Assistant, to the Secretary to the

Prime Minister, Saman Ekanayake, for relevant action.

Finally, I would like to state that in my 33 years of service I have not made a mistake or humiliated you in

any way knowingly or unknowingly. However, I have made thousands of enemies by trying to protect you.

A person who was committed to you (ONE MAN GOD)

Sudath Chandrasekara.