COLOMBO: A group of senior members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) described Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena’s crossing over on Friday to the opposition to contest the Jan 8 presidential polls as part of an international conspiracy.

“What happened on Friday is a link in the chain of foreign conspiracies that seek to destabilise this country,” Minister Dullas Alahapperuma told a news briefing on Saturday.

Sirisena’s supporters told Dawn on Friday that he would be able to take away a good number of votes of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on account of his association with the party and his rural Sinhala Buddhist background.

Meanwhile, the minority Tamils and Muslims are expected to support Sirisena as they see Rajapaksa as anti-minority.

The opposition united National Party, under Wickremesinghe, is seen as pro-minority and Sirisena is expected to gain because of his association with Wickremesinghe.

However, he is also expected to lose out on his partnership with Wickremesinghe as the Sinhala Buddhist majority, who associates Rajapaksa with the victory over the LTTE, will look at the promise by Sirisena to abolish the executive presidency and make Wickrememesinghe the prime minister, as a move that might make room for ‘foreign conspiracies’ and a possible re-entry of LTTE supporters to destabilise the country.

“The conspiracy theory of Rajapaksa is the best weapon against the joint opposition candidate,” a Colombo-based analyst said.

However, the opposition is drawing comfort from the fact that Rajapaksa’s coalition has been losing support because of widespread resentment over allegations of corruption and cronyism.

Published in Dawn, November 23th , 2014