[Behind Closed Doors]

Beauty’s contest, a king’s betrayer and Soo-shill and the bills

by Rasputin

Beauty and the tactician

Seasoned tactician Muza is finding it hard to cling to his job as the boss of the metropolis now that a rosy-cheeked beauty is coming on to the stage.

Our beauty, who has a close equation with the top rung of the Elephant party, is now projecting herself as the star candidate at the forthcoming metro polls next March.

According to whispers behind closed doors, certain city beautification issues Muza is facing at the moment may also play into the beauty’s hands during the selection process for the top metro ticket. “Our girl’s popular appeal will stand in her favour at the election,” one whisperer observed after weighing the strengths and weaknesses of the two contenders.

What makes the contest tighter is the involvement of a certain Elephant party bigwig who strongly backs Muza.

Against this backdrop, one has every reason to believe that this intra-party rivalry will be more exciting than the metro’s election contest which will, in all probability, be a one horse race.

Lang-sa’s buses

The blue party organised a grand welcome for their big boss at the airport on his return from the Big Apple. The group of MPs supposed to be the staunchest backers of the big boss attended the function with the expectation of getting into the good books of their leader.

However, the man who stole the limelight away from all the MPs was Lang-sa who organised buses for blue party fans and cheerleaders. Lang-sa, a boy from the airport neighbourhood, was running the show at the airport, perhaps to the annoyance of some party seniors who felt a little insecure about their places in the leader’s ‘good books’.

They were seen whispering to each other about Lang-sa’s behaviour, saying that the coastal town boy, who recently got elected to the Diyawanna house,is growing too big for his shoes.

Soo-shil and the bills

Soo-shil, the main ‘gatekeeper’ of the blue party in terms of nominations at the last election, is now blaming himself for allowing his ex-boss to contest the polls on the party ticket. In fact, it was at Soo-shil’s insistence that the nomination was given to the ex-boss to run for the election in August.

The ex-boss has earned Soo-shil’s ire as the former, giving a statement to a high profile presidential commission, had said he had nothing to do with party funds and election ads. In his statement, the ex-boss said that while he was merely the candidate of the party, it was the party that was responsible for non-payment of bills for elections.

As a result, the matter ended with Soo-shil and he having to give evidence before the same commission.

“The ex-boss doesn’t know who I am. It is his duty to appoint someone to handle funds and propaganda campaigns. In the absence of such an appointment, the responsibility goes to the party leader. The General Secretary has nothing to do with all this,” a disappointed Soo-shil said, speaking to some of his friends on receiving summons from the Presidential Commission.

He muttered that he has “no reason to defend” the ex-boss as the latter betrayed him badly before the Commission.

“They should all know that politics doesn’t have permanent friends or enemies,” a wise old man, walking past the SLFP headquarters at Darley road, murmured sagely.

Betraying the king

The shockwaves are yet reverberating around political circles after an ex-MP, who was, at one point, a trusted ally of the former king, has expressed willingness to be a State witness in several cases against his ex-master. It was shocking news to many who were close to the former royal family as the ex-MP had functioned as the all-powerful right hand man and ‘troubleshooter’ of the former king when the latter was in power.

The former king was furious when he heard the story that his right hand man was going to betray him.

“I always knew he was a third grade man. But, I trusted him wholeheartedly. I gave everything he wanted. And this is what he is going to give me in return,” an utterly disappointed former king told his close allies last week, while lounging on the cosy verandah of his personal residence in the suburbs.

However, a surfeit of legal issues have to be sorted out before the former king’s right hand man can take the stand as a State witness in several anti-corruption cases.

If that happens, the former king who fell out of power in January, could be in deep trouble as this ex-MP was reportedly closely involved in most of the clandestine ‘deals’ over the past 10 years.