United National Party crisis

MPs rebel against Leader

Motion of No Confidence brought:

UNP Members of Parliament have rebelled against the Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe during a meeting of the UNP Parliamentary Group held at the Parliamentary Complex yesterday morning.

UNP Deputy General Secretary Lakshman Seneviratne in bringing a vote of No Confidence on Ranil Wickremesinghe has proposed that he should resign from the posts of Party Leader and the Leader of the Opposition as they have No Confidence in him. The Motion was seconded by Ranjith Madduma Bandara, MP.

Lakshman Seneviratne also proposed that voting on the Motion should be by secret ballot. The meeting held amidst a heated exchange of views was chaired by Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The proposal was seconded by MP Ranjith Maddumabandara. The vote was fixed for later in the evening at the Sirikotha Party Headquarters when this edition was going to press. A UNP working committee meeting is also scheduled to be held today, Party sources said.MPs Tissa Attanayake, Ravindra Samaraweera, Johnston Fernando, Dayasiri Jayasekera and Sajith Premadasa had also expressed their views on the issue. Vajira Abeywardena and Renuka Herath had spoken in favour of the Opposition Leader.