Former UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake’s close allies have approached some top-ranking UNP officials, including its current General Secretary Kabir Hashim, to seek whether Attanayake can rejoin the party.

Sources close to Attanayae said the UNP bigwigs had not responded favourably to Attanayake’s allies.

The former UNP General Secretary defected former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s camp in the run up to the last Presidential election. After Rajapaksa’s defeat, Attanayake ended up in remand for forging documents.

Attanayake, however, did not join former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political campaign and remained neutral in the party’s internal power struggle.

“It is still not clear how the Prime Minister will respond to Attanayake’s comeback bid. The issue of forging documents stands in his way. Without the Prime Minister’s consent, he cannot join the UNP again,” a senior UNP Parliamentarian told Asian Mirror.

However, the UNP seniors who negotiated with Attanayake’s allies had promised to discuss the matter with the party leadership, sources close to Attanayake added.