A poster campaign in Colombo city early yesterday (14) raised curiosity among many at a time when the entire country was affected by torrential rains.
“Colombo is disturbed – Keshal arrives”, it said.
Reactions in social media speculated on many probabilities.
It actually is part of a propaganda campaign for the upcoming parliamentary polls.
It was by Keshal Jayasinghe who contests for Colombo under the ‘gas cylinder’ symbol.
Who is Keshal?
Having received his school education at Royal College, Colombo, he obtained an MA on international relations from San Francisco State University in the USA.
After returning home, Keshal functioned as a coordinating secretary to the late Mangala Samaraweera during the period he was a cabinet minister.
He went onto become chairman of the state-owned Selacine and People’s Travel, an affiliate of the Bank of Ceylon.
When Samaraweera left active politics and launched his ‘radical middle’, Keshal became a key advocate of the programme by his political mentor.
Served without accepting any returns
Also, he was the digital media director at the President’s Media Division during the period Ranil Wickremesinghe was the president.
For that entire duration, he accepted no salary, allowance or vehicle from the state.
As an activist of the UNP’s youth wing, he intends to gain a political representation in parliament for social democracy.
He says he contests the election in order to take forward an ideology towards the establishment of democratic governance based on a market-oriented economy. He wants to promote the UNP that introduced the open economy as a competitive force at the election.
The JVP-led NPP that rode to power on numerous promises continues with what Wickremesinghe implemented in 2022. Therefore, the only way out of this crisis is by following Wickremesinghe’s course of action, Keshal stresses.
