UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera and National Organizer Susil Premajayantha have requested President Maithripala Sirisena to form aUPFA-led government, claiming they can show a majority support in the 225 member legislature. 

The letter has been sent to the President amidst their negotiations with the Joint Opposition group to form a new coalition in Parliament. It is learnt that the Joint Opposition has offered conditional support to the UPFA for a caretaker government that will ensure an early dissolution of Parliament. 

Sports Minister Dayasiri Payasekera and Deputy Speaker thilanga Sumathipala were at the forefront of these negotiations, this evening. 

Under the current circumstances, an early dissolution of Parliament and a subsequent General election will allow former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to power with an overwhelming majority. Therefore, conditional support may turn out to be a trap laid by the Rajapaksa group to return to power early, without waiting for another 02 years for a Parliamentary election. 

Although Rajapaksa's return to power may not auger well for President Sirisena, the latter, out of desperation to get rid of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, has embarked on a path to self-destruction. 

However, even if the entire UPFA gets together, they have only 96 seats in Parliament. In addition, they can also draw the support of Athuraliye Rathana Thera and Wijedasa Rajapakshe, two UNP MPs, who currently hang loose. But, to show a simple majority in Parliament they will need at least another 13 MPs. 

As the JVP, the TNA and other minority parties are unlikely to support a UPFA-led government, they will only be left with the option of poaching MPs from the UNP.