There was widespread speculation in the recent past that a purohita in yahapalanaya too was behind the chaos that hit the harbour in Ruhuna. 

Some people say that the particular purohita put his weight behind those who wanted to create the unrest because of a grudge he harboured for striking off the name of a foreign investor he sponsored.
The purohita is also said to be sulking over being kept out of the entire process of awarding the harbour management contract to the Chinese company.

The strike by the workers took a turn for the worse as he passively looked on without taking any positive step to resolve the issues involved, they say.