R.D. Ashoka Priyantha, the seventh UNP MP to crossover to the Sirisena-Rajapaksa camp since former President Mahinda Rajapaksa took oaths as the Prime Minister, accepted a deputy ministerial post this evening. 

Priyantha was sworn in as the Deputy Minister of Cultural and Internal Affairs, and Regional Development (Wayamba)

In addition to him, three MPs of the Joint Opposition took oaths and Cabinet and State Minister. 

They were Vasudewa Nanayakkara, the Minister of National Integration, Reconciliation, and Official Languages, Dinesh Gunawardena, the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, and Keheliya Rambukwella, the State Minister of Mass Media and Digital Infrastructure. 

They were first Joint Opposition MPs to take up ministerial portfolios from the Sirisena-Rajapaksa government.