UNP Ex-Co endorses union with SLFP

Rashomi Silva

Party heavyweight Rajitha Senaratne said the Executive Committee that met yesterday unanimously approved the agreement and gave its assent to go ahead with the signing of the MoU next Monday.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) spells the agenda of the agreement where the two parties will work in harmony to achieve common goals on six agreed issues including the peace process.

"The executive committee almost unanimously approved the agreement but they advised to come to an understanding over power sharing in proposed committees," Senaratne said.

According to the Agreement the Committees, consisting of Government and Opposition members, will oversee Ministries.

He said the Party has agreed to sign the MoU next Monday and the Committee has advised to finalise talks on power sharing.

Questioned if the UNP will accept portfolios he said the talks on power sharing will address that aspect as well.

"When we talk about power sharing we will discuss about portfolios as well," Senaratne said without elaborating.

The agreement on national consensus was approved by the two party leaders, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, last week.

Earlier this month, negotiations between two high powered delegations from the parties agreed to adopt a common national agenda on six agreed areas.

The areas proposed for cooperation are nation building, good governance, economic development, education, peace building and the electoral system.