President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe held a two hour long discussion last night (12).
The President is said to have told the PM that he has to now take a decision based on the hopes of the people and the election results. It is learned that the President has asked the PM to take a decision after analysing the situation first.
Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Malik Samarawickrema, Kabir Hashim, Mahinda Amaraweera and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala had also participated in this discussion. After the meeting, the UNP delegation had visited Minister Mangala Samaraweera and held discussions further. Minister Rajitha Senaratne also joined the discussions thereafter.
Will Ranil step down?
Meanwhile the BBC has reported that SLFP MP’s have demanded that PM Ranil Wickramasinghe to step down while the President had confirmed these sentiments of the group.
The BBC quoting a Minister of the government said the President and the PM had held a discussion in this regard last night at the President’s official residence on Paget Road where the President is said to have informed the UNP to appoint a new PM from the party.
According to the BBC the PM had claimed the UNP is not ready to make changes within its party as per the wishes of the SLFP.
The President is also said to have claimed that he will not grant any ministerial posts to SLFP MP’s who join the UNP to form a UNP government.
He had also stressed that the TNA will have to forget about forming a new constitution if they join hands with the UNP to help form its own government.
CAPTION - Calls from within the UNP itself for Sajith or Karu to be made the new UNP party leader
Meanwhile, demands within the party are emerging that Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign from the leadership and appoint Sajith Premadasa or Karu Jayasuriya as the leader.
Karu Jayasuriya replying in response to a question raised by the BBC Sinhala service if a he has been invited to accept the party leadership or to accept the post of Prime Minister, he said no such request has been made of him yet.
The Speaker also requested the media inquire into this with the UNP as he has left party politics after being appointed as the Speaker.
Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in an interview with BBC Sinhala Service on Sunday that he will not accept the post of Prime Minister and urged the government to call for a general election as the people has lost confidence in the government as evidenced by the results of local government elections
Leave your comments
Login to post a comment
Post comment as a guest