Not satisfied

14 September 2010 11:15 am

By Jamila Najmuddin

The UNP members who have threatened to sit independently in parliament when it convenes next week say they are not satisfied with the views expressed by Party Leader Ranil Wickramasingha today and have issued an ultimatum till 22 September.

UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara who is among the 25 MPs who have threatened to sit independently in parliament if Mr. Wickramasingha does not address the leadership crisis soon said if they do not receive a positive response by September 22, they will inform the Speaker of their decision.

“Parliament convenes on September 23 and we have to inform the Speaker a day earlier in writing if we are going to sit independently. We are not satisfied with Mr. Wickramasingha’s explanation today,” Mr. Jayasekara told Daily Mirror online.

The UNP Leader said today that party reforms are underway and cannot be completed in a day and noted that it will take time for the reforms process to be completed.

Further reacting to this statement, Mr. Jayasekara said that despite the Reforms Committee Report being completed over a month ago, the Part Convention continued to be delayed with no date still reached. “The Leader said he will have the Convention in July, then it got postponed to August and now we do not know when it will be held. This is not fair,” he said. 

Meanwhile Mr. Jayasekara said that UNP MPs Joseph Michael Perera and Jayawickrama Perera had requested him today to reconsider his decision to sit independently in Parliament and had sought for a meeting to sort the matter.

Mr. Jayasekara said that he would discuss the request with the remaining 24 MPs. (Daily Mirror online)