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Asela Kuruluwansa and Sanjaya Mathurata

UNP National Organiser and Central Provincial Council Opposition Leader S. B. Dissanayake was a noticeable absentee at the presentation ceremony of the United National Alliance (UNA) policy frame-work at Malwatte and Asigiriya Chapters in Kandy on Saturday.

Dissanayake was also absent at the inaugural ceremony of the formation of the UNA in Colombo recently.

Meanwhile, UNP supporters and the party organiser for Yatinuwara have expressed dissatisfaction over the UNP's vehicle rally not stopping at a reception at Kadugannawa on Friday. Yatinuwara organiser and CPC Provincial Councillor Nihal Goonesekera and his supporters had been waiting for nearly four hours to receive Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the reception. But the vehicles with Wickremesinghe passed without stopping near Kadugannawa Bodhiya where the reception was to be held.

This had angered the Yatinuwara organiser who had reportedly thrown away the sheaf of betel with which he was to receive Wickremesinghe, saying he was ending ties with the UNP. He was also absented at the UNA's policy presentation ceremony in Kandy on the following day.