UNP rebellion far from over

Even though UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe appears to have beaten back yet another party rebellion, rebel sources said last night that the fight is far from over.

A leading rebel told The Nation that senior UNPers will take a firm decision if Wickremesinghe tried to stall changes during the Working Committee meeting tomorrow. Wickremesinghe has, however, approved the drafts in regards to the changes in his powers.

“Ranil will be the ceremonial leader while another prominent figure will be made the leader of the party. Not only us, who rebelled against him, even senior members will be taking firm action against Wickremesinghe in case he does not agree with the changes as promised,” he said.

He also said other than Renuka Herath and Malik Samarawickrama, the rest of the MPs want Wickremesinghe to step down to quell the chaos in the party, which was caused as a result of his leadership.
Rebels also said in the event Wickremesinghe and his henchmen block their reforms, they would then sign an open letter requesting for an emergency group meeting which will be followed by an open vote.

“According to the party constitution, we can call for a group meeting along with 10 signatures. Therefore, our MPs will be signing an open letter if Wickremesinghe refuses to take his new position as the ceremonial leader,” the leading rebel asserted.
He added that most of the members have failed to recognise the true picture of Wickremesinghe, therefore, most of them are willing to give him another chance, which can only ruin the party further.

The rebel also said that Wickremesinghe had tried his level best to set one member against the other. In the past too he created differences between Rajitha Senarathne and Gamini Lokuge then, between Tissa Attanayaka and Rukman Senanayakka but ultimately Wickremesinghe lost the game as he could not create any animosity among the members. Wickremesinghe is like lizard, he can change his personality accordingly,” the rebel, who at one time was one of the UNP leader’s strongest supporters, said.

The rebels are also vowing to go public if Wickremesinghe fails to step down from his current all-powerful position.

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