UNP MPs call for working committee meeting next week

• Group of 26 MPs send letter to UNP Leader calling for meeting  

A group of 26 United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians has signed a letter calling on Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to convene a meeting of the UNP Working Committee. 

The move comes days after a special six-member committee appointed to decide on the future of the embattled party’s leadership picked Sajith Premadasa to be the leader of the UNP.   

UNP MP Thalatha Athukorala told the Daily FT that 26 members of the Working Committee, including herself, had signed the letter calling for a meeting. MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara, who is also signatory to the letter, said that they expected a meeting to be called within a week. MP Lakshman Kiriella stated that the Working Committee is the highest committee within the party. A request by one-third of the Working Committee could lead to a meeting being convened, he opined. UNP General Secretary MP Akila Viraj Kariyawasam was not available for comment on when the Working Committee could meet.