The Blues had on May Day come to terms with a reality that they had long skirted: they will never come to power again if they remain splintered. 

Following the dawning of this reality on all and sundry, a small group of party seniors the other day decided to bring pressure on both factions to bury the hatchet for an early merger. They also nominated several seniors as members of a delegation to meet both leaders to negotiate a peace settlement. 

However, a party senior from Uva who was nominated as a member of the peace delegation immediately declined saying: “Apoi! No matter what you think about that man, I can’t be a party to a mission expected to talk peace with him again!” 

This Blue senior who backed out shifted his political base from Colombo to Badulla sometime ago. However, he lost his constituency at the last poll, but managed to make it to Diyawanna thanks to the preferential vote. The other seniors, however, firm in their resolution to carry out their mission to a successful conclusion decided to pursue their goal come hell or high water.