{"id":196515,"date":"2018-12-02T19:46:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T14:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=196515"},"modified":"2018-12-03T15:13:54","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T09:43:54","slug":"sirisena-makes-eleventh-hour-move-postpones-meeting-with-unf-party-leaders-and-decides-to-meet-upfa-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sirisena-makes-eleventh-hour-move-postpones-meeting-with-unf-party-leaders-and-decides-to-meet-upfa-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirisena Makes Eleventh Hour Move: Postpones Meeting With UNF Party Leaders And Decides To Meet UPFA MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Maithripala Sirisena<\/a><\/strong>, currently under enormous pressure to resolve the current political crisis, postponed his meeting with the party leaders of the United National Front (UNF) scheduled for tonight at the Presidential Secretariat, at the eleventh hour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sirisena<\/p><\/div>\n

The UNF party leaders were informed at the last moment that the President could only meet them tomorrow at 8 PM . Sources close to the President told Colombo Telegraph that Sirisena has scheduled a meeting for UPFA MPs tonight to discuss the current political crisis.<\/p>\n

All Ceylon Makkal Congress Leader Rishad Bathiudeen, who did not receive the announcement of the cancellation on time, even arrived at the Presidential Secretariat around 7 PM today to attend the meeting. He was informed at the entrance of the Secretariat that Sirisena had decided to postpone the meeting.<\/p>\n

All UNF party leaders who attended the meeting with Sirisena on Friday night were invited for the meeting. The meeting on Friday ended abruptly after Sirisena told the group that he did not intend to re-appoint UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a><\/strong> as the Prime Minister. The UNF MPs, at that point, decided to meet Sirisena on Sunday, with a fresh set of proposals to resolve the current political deadlock.<\/p>\n

Despite Sirisena’s objections, The United National Party (UNP) on Friday informed the President and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan<\/a><\/strong> in writing that Wickremesinghe would be the party’s nominee for the Prime Minister’s post.<\/p>\n

With 14 TNA MPs pledging support to UNP\u2019s nominee for the Prime Minister\u2019s position, Wickremesinghe now officially commands the support of 117 MPs in Parliament. All UNP MPs, at the parliamentary group meeting earlier this week, unanimously decided to back Wickremesinghe as the party\u2019s nominee for the Prime Ministerial post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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