United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesighe will meet UNP parliamentarians Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa at the Dhammakithyarama Kollupitiya (Polwatte temple) for a meeting facilitated by Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera.

The meeting to be held on Friday will decide on the party’s future and help iron out differences.

Party sources said several Buddhist monks attached to the Eksath Bikkhu Peramuna are also expected to participate in this meeting.

This move comes in the wake of a suggestion by some party seniors that a supreme executive council headed by Mr. Jayasuriya be set up to set the course for the party’s future. It had been suggested that Mr. Premadasa and MP Ravi Karunanayake should also be included in this council.

This suggestion was reportedly discussed by Mr. Wickremesinghe when he met the Ven. Girambe Ananda Thera in Anuradhapura earlier this week. Venerable Ananda Thera is expected to participate at Friday’s discussions.

The decision to hold the meeting had been made despite the critical statement by Mr. Premadasa when he requested certain party elements not to destroy the party even if they destroyed him.

“You can kill me and destroy me but don’t destroy the UNP which I love so much,” he said in the statement in response to the suggestion that he should contest as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Southern Province. (Yohan Perera)