Hard on the heels of a fresh call for a leadership change, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a five-man committee to organize a protest campaign to increase pressure on the government.

The committee comprises UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, Lakshman Seneviratne, Johnston Fernando, Rukman Senanayake and Kabir Hashim. The appointment has been made consequent to agreement that the recent protests launched against the Rajapaksa administration hadn’t been successful.

Party sources said Wickremesinghe had said that he wouldn’t give in to pressure, particularly a call to give up the party’s elephant symbol to contest the forthcoming provincial council elections on a common symbol.

The sources said an influential section of the UNP including some of Wickremesinghe’s closest associates had stressed the urgent need for a change in leadership. They dismissed the assertion that there was a move to elevate S. B. Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa.

The majority wanted Rukman Senanayake to take over the party and Wickremesinghe to be in charge of the grand coalition which the sources asserted would be able to challenge the government.

They said the need for an effective campaign had been discussed at a recent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee where Wickremesinghe had taken responsibility for the recent protests which some of the members had felt failed to attract the public support. (SF)