The Democratic National United Front once led by the late Lalith Athulathmudali is to return to politics according to a "master plan" of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, political sources said.

The DUNF was created by a group of former UNP members in 1991 following the unsuccessful attempt to impeach the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Athulathmudali became a Deputy Chairman of the party along with Gamini Dissanayake and later became its leader. He was murdered on April 23, 1993.

Following the assassination of R. Premadasa in May 1993, most of the members of the DUNF returned to the UNP. However, the party was never officially folded up.

It was reported that the party was to return to active politics and will contest in the upcoming elections on its own.

However, this is actually a part of a plan by the UNP to create several parties allied to it in the long run and to give the facade of a broader alliance, political sources reveal.

The UNP will bankroll the campaign of the DUNF and it will give the appearance that there is no formal alliance between the parties, it is further said.