By Nasria Naffin, TON Sri Lanka

Sajith Premadasa the opposition leader of Sri Lanka and Member of Parliament for Colombo district at present. He heads the main opposition party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) at present.

Born in 1967 in Colombo to Ranasinghe premadasa (the 2^nd executive president of Sri Lanka) and Hema Premadasa Sajith completed his schooling in some of the leading schools from Colombo and obtained his higher education qualifications from the United Kingdom. 

He entered politics in 1994 after the assassination of his father from the Hambanthota district representing the United National Party, one of the main political parties in the country. He was elected to the parliament in 2000 and has served as the deputy health minister. Later he was appointed as the deputy leader of the UNP in 2011. He contested the presidential election in 2019 but was unable to win. In 2020 he quitted the UNP to form his own political party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJP). His party managed to obtain 54 seats in the parliament at the last general election.

Later Sajith was appointed as the leader of the opposition party in the parliament. He refused the invitation from the former president Gotabaya Rajapaksha to become the Prime minister of the country. 

After the resignation of Gotabaya he withdrew himself at the last minute from the presidential race supporting the former SLPP minister Dullas Allaperuma. However, at the time of protesting and the country was facing its worst crisis the people were expecting Sajith to take over the country and do the needful as he always has promised them. By backing off from contesting and before that refusing the offer by Gotabaya to become the Prime Minister under him has made people doubtful on his future leadership.

During the recent political crisis in Sri Lanka, Sajith acted wisely, standing with the general public and taking timely decisions. He did not want to take up any positions in the government while the ex-president was still in his seat. Sajith wanted the ex- president to resign as did all the other protesters. At a recent programme he has stated that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leaders were planning to bring forth a No-Confidence Motion if he accepted the Prime Minister’s post when former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa offered it to him. They were planning to ruin my political career, he mentioned. 

Premadasa also noted that there is enough evidence to prove that the present government cannot do much to resolve the problems of the people, thus, calling immediately for an election is the best option.

Then at the time of selecting a new president Premadasa backed by giving his support to the former SLPP minister Dullas Alahapperuma. This again made his fans a little disappointed. They were doubting that he had taken this decision knowing he was going to lose from the parliament election over Ranil Wickramasinghe. So, by supporting Dullas he has a chance of becoming the Prime minister if Dullas became the President. 

However, 55 years old Premadasa is one of the youngest politicians in the country to run for the top post since 1999. It will favor him to be the preferred leader for the all-new voters and among the youth in the country. Younger generation at the recent protests have mentioned the need of a young leader as they think only a young and strong leader will bring back prosperity to this country and will understand the problems of youth better than most of the existing aged politicians. 

People were already fed up with the dictatorship and wanted a new leader with more transparency. Sajith is well-known for his care for all attitude particularly to the underprivileged. 

The country needs a new leader who can overcome the sluggish economy and end the ongoing political and economic crisis for the people to live peacefully while they enjoy their basic needs. This is the time for a change in the political structure of the country. The political leadership should be transferred to the new generation of the country.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has also managed to win popularity among the general public specially after the country's economic crisis. The 53 years old JVP leader may give Sajith a good competition if both will contest for the next presidential election in 2014. 

Political stability is vital to the country for an uninterrupted growth. Fair and balanced international relationship is equally important to the island nation which has borrowed heavily from China and is located very close to India. Sajith has shown a well-balanced relationship with most of these world giants and he is well recognized as an experienced and educated politician by these countries. Sri Lankans will choose the most suitable leader for their country in the next presidential election after all the lessons they have learned from the past.