11 May 2010 06:19 am
UNP Leader Ranil Wickramasingha has expressed his willingness to quit from the party leadership if senior members of the main opposition are unhappy about his leadership, UNP sources told Daily Mirror online.
Wickramasingha had mentioned this to senior party members just hours before embarking on a personal visit to India yesterday, UNP sources added.
“Wickramasingha told a few party members that he is willing to resign if the members are unhappy with him. However no one has responded yet,” sources said.
The UNP is facing a serious leadership crisis after the party continued to lose successive elections over the past few years. A few senior members of the UNP have suggested Mr. Wickremasinghe step down gracefully and make way for a new leader to rise in the party.
In the April 8, parliamentary elections the UNP was defeated by the ruling United People’s Free Alliance (UPFA). The UNP obtained 46 seats while the UPFA obtained 117 seats.
During the run up to the elections several UNP supporters and lawyers changed their allegiance by supporting President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UPFA.
At least three UNP members including Sajith Premadasa and Dayasiri Jayasekara have put forward proposals for reforms in the party.
Dayasiri Jayasekara had said the UNP required a politician of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s calibre to save the party from its present predicament. (Daily Mirror online)