Dissident UNPers threatens to sit independently in P’ment if demands unmet

• Wants Sajith Premadasa nominated as future leader of UNP
• Party General Secretary asserts new appointments made in democratic manner 

A group of United National Party (UNP) backbenchers and state and deputy ministers will be compelled to sit independently in Parliament if the party leadership fails to nominate an individual as the future leader, UNP MP Heshan Withanage said yesterday.

MP Withanage told the Daily FT that 15 backbencher parliamentarians and 15 state and deputy ministers disagreed with the appointments made to the party leadership by its politburo on 25 April and that they had requested a meeting with party leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

“The party cannot go forward in this manner. These changes that were made are not acceptable to the public. The people want concrete measures targeting the future of the party,” MP Withanage said, adding that the group hopes to meet the Premier today. 

He went on to say that what was needed of the party was to establish a clear second tier leadership for the party.

“We have no issues with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe remaining as the party leader. We are not asking him to step down from his position. What we demanding is that Sajith Premesadasa is at least nominated as the future leader of the UNP. This way the party and all its supporters know which way the party is heading and who can be put forward for future elections.”

He went on to say that if the group of dissident UNP MPs did not get a favourable response, they would take harsh measures. 

“If we do not get a satisfactory response, we may have to sit as an independent group in Parliament. We will still be part of the UNP and we won’t support other parties, but we will not support any UNP activities in Parliament either.”

When the Daily FT spoke to UNP General Secretary Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam regarding the issues raised by the dissident UNP group, the Minister said that there should be no reason for this as the appointments were made in a democratic manner.

“Soon after the Local Government Elections were concluded, these same UNP backbencher group called for restructuring and reforms in a democratic manner. Accordingly, a politburo was appointed through a secret ballot where every UNPer cast their vote. This democratically appointed politburo was responsible for the restructuring process. So there really should not be any issues with the new appointments made to the party leadership,” said Minister Kariyawasam.