Dayasiri won’t defect but wants three demands met by UNP

By Lal Gunasekera

UNP parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera yesterday denied that he had any intention of crossing over to the government.

He said he had put forth three demands to the UNP. The first is that the Working Committee proposal to hold elections for the main posts once in six years must be dropped and elections conducted annually. The other demands are Kurunegala District Parliamentarian Asoka Abeysinghe must be reappointed as district organiser and disciplinary inquireis against party members must be dropped.

Spokesman for the Protection of the UNP and its Trade Unions Lal Perera, addressing a media briefing yesterday (26), said that Wickremesinghe was making every attempt to get the Working Committee proposals approved at an illegal convention on September 6, but all UNPers were against the amendments proposed by the WC.

"This is an undemocratic move to cling to power", said Perera, who said that Sagala Ratnayake, Kabir Hashim and Malik Sarawickreme had visited MP Dayasiri Jayasekera on Tuesday and requested him (Jayasekera) not to join the government.

Perera said that Samarawickreme had suggested that Wickremesinghe should remain as UNP leader only for three years.

Perera claimed that the UPFA government was hell bent on having Wickremesinghe as the head of the UNP as he was a weak leader.