Following reports that the former strongman now an ordinary Diyawanna member was to be invited to preside over the proposed Kurunegala District Development Committee, practically all Betel leaf Diyawanna members of the district one after another had called their   former boss to know his reaction to this offer.


The former strongman’s stock reply to all these inquisitive ones had been that he was not prepared to accept such office. “What Committee Chair for me who occupied the highest chair in the country for 10 years at a stretch! Don’t they know that I declined even when the main chair in the opposition was offered to me? ” he had asked. 

Later after divulging what was at the back of the mind of all these callers, the former strongman had added:  “I think Jonny is the ideal person for this new job.”