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UNP meeting amidst party crisis
The UNP’s decision-making working committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow amidst wide speculation about a party crisis over the leadership in the aftermath of the defeat at the presidential election.

The UNP’s Assistant General Secretary Tissa Attanayake — known to be a loyalist of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe — claimed yesterday that speculation about a leadership crisis was largely gossip.

He said there were no immediate plans for any leadership change. But the speculation persisted with other sources saying a rebel group including several former UNP ministers was pushing for a leadership change for Mr. Wickremesinghe to be replaced by Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya.

The anti-Ranil group is reported to include M. H. Mohamed, Ravi Karunanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, Gamini Lokuge, Prof. G. L. Peiris, Dharmadasa Banda, Mano Wijeratne, P. Dayaratne, Gamini Jayawickreme Perera, Neomal Perera and Ranjith Maddumabandara.

The group is reported to have met at Mr. Mohamed’s residence. Some media reports last week said Mr. Mohamed had been appointed as party chairman to replace Malik Samarawickreme who resigned after the election. But Mr. Mohamed denied he had accepted such a post.

A UNP parliamentary group meeting scheduled for last Friday was not held amidst conflicting reports over what was happening at the leadership level.
UNP Gampaha district MP Jayalath Jayawardena said that they had been asked to attend tomorrow’s meeting but had not been informed about the agenda.

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