While President Maithripala Sirisena is trying every trick in the book to derail the UNP-led government, the party's Working Committee meeting today only focused on the controversial remarks by Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake on the alleged drug users in Parliament. 

Today's meeting was the Working Committee meeting of the ruling UNP before the national budget on March 05. The UNP is still not in a position to guarantee the passage of the budget in Parliament as the party does not command the support of a simple majority in the House. 

However, none of the matters related to the budget or its passage in Parliament was discussed at the Working Committee as it only focused on the report presented by the committee, headed by Lakshman Kiriella, on Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake's claims on drug users in Parliament. 

"There were many arguments and viewpoints about Ranjan's remarks. Some defended Ranjan while some criticized. Unfortunately, we couldn't discuss any other matters as we were pressed for time," a Working Committee member of the UNP told Asian Mirror 

Minster Harsha de Silva said after the Working Committee meeting that the committee had arrived at the conclusion that Ramanayake's remarks are unsubstantiated. 

However, de Silva said, Ramanayake's name list has been sent to the CID for further inquiries.

Speaking at the meeting, Ramanayake had said that he did not target any member of the UNP when he revealed to the media that there were drug users in Parliament. Defending his position, the actor turned politician said the media had blown his remarks out of proportion and painted a wrong picture about the matter.