With the ruling coalition seeking to repeat its battlefield success in the North with efforts to win over more UNP MPs, the main Opposition party is seeking to thwart further desertions. The government’s decision to go ahead with local government elections ahead of the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution with the Indian backing, political sources said, has placed the UNP in a politically difficult position.

The UNP’s counter attack is believed to be largely based on a ten-point plan to meet the government’s challenge.

The UNP has been reduced to 41 seats after 25 members including ten from the National List switched allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the vacancy caused by the assassination of MP T. Maheswaran had been filled by Mohammed Shafeek Rajabdeen (SLMC) who contested the Colombo District on the UNP ticket at the last general elections.

A two-day workshop at the luxurious Heritance Hotel, Ahungalle this week marked the launch of the ambitious political programme to perk up the party. Well informed sources said that the action plan had been discussed at the Colombo residence of a UNP MP. The invitations for the programme had been sent by a recently formed committee tasked with helping the UNP, the sources said. A person who had been involved in Chandrika Kumaratunga’s campaign in 1994,

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s last presidential election campaign, a former Secretary to a Prime Minister, an ex-Director of the Information Department who functioned as one-time Competent Authority and a hotshot NGO activist had initially joined the committee, the sources said.

Among the persons who made presentations were an economist and a well known media personality.

The majority of UNP parliamentarians had turned up on Wednesday and Thursday but a notable absentee was Tissa Attanayake, Kandy District MP and General Secretary of the UNP. Of the 41-member UNP parliamentary group 31 had attended Wednesday’s programme. The sources placed the number of yesterday’s participants at 20.

Interestingly, the two-day workshop has been preceded by Tuesday’s meeting between President Rajapaksa and UNP leader Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees where the UNP pledged its backing for the 13th Amendment.