SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake has distanced himself from attempts to form a UPFA-Joint Opposition  government, with Nimal Siripala de Silva as the Prime Minister. 

Political sources said, Dissanayake, usually known in the political circles as a confidante of President Maithripala Sirisena, was not even responding to queries by the media. 

He had told some of his close associates that he could not get involved in attempts to form a government with the Rajapaksa group. 

Despite Dissanayake's notable absence in the process, sources close to him said the relationship between the President and the SLFP General Secretary still remained intact. 

Dissanayake, one of the first members to be defected from the Rajapaksa administration in November, 2014, has remained a strong critique of the Rajapaksa family since then.

It is Minister Susil Premajayantha, the national organizer ofthe UPFA, who has taken the initiative to begin talks between the two embattled groups within the party.