All members of the UNP Parliamentary group signed a letter this morning at the party headquarters 'Sirikotha' pledging support to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to continue in his position. 

They were invited for a luncheon meeting at the UNP headquarters. The meeting was convened amid speculations that a handful of UNP MPs had signed a letter supporting Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva's bid to become the Prime Minister. 

A senior Cabinet minister said the meeting was convened to see if there were 'traitors' in the party, as speculated by some websites and media reports. "The attendance of the meeting was closely monitored," he said.

Party sources said the letter would be handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya today, who is likely to make a special statement in Parliament in this regard. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking to the MPs who attended the meeting, said serious reforms would be introduced to the party soon.

Asian Mirror reported this morning that President Maithripala Sirisena had written to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya asking whether he can appoint Minister Nimal Sirpala de Silva as a 'minority Prime Minister'.

Although the UPFA attempted to show that they had secured majority in the 225-member legislature, it has now become clear that the party has fallen short of their target. Nevertheless their argument has been that the President can still appoint a new Prime Minister as the 'national government agreement, signed in September 2015, has expired and the current Cabinet of Ministers has become 'invalid'.