UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayak, at the party’s working Committee meeting yesterday, admitted thatn he held discussions with DNA Parliamentarian Tiran Alles and Chairman of Capital Maharaja Organization Kili Maharaja on building “unity” in the United National Party.   

Attanayake made this remark speaking minutes before the conclusion of the UNP Working Committee meeting yesterday which appointed several Parliamentarians to top positions in the party. The General Secretary said he was instrumental in building the bridge between party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and its Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa.

“We need Mawbima and Sirasa. And that is why I decided to iron out differences with Alles and kili Maharaja,” Attanayake said. However, his remarks came under severe criticism from some of the Working Committee members who were present at the meeting.

“So the General Secretary of the UNP has held discussions with a Parliamentarian of another party and a business tycoon over building “unity” among the top rung leaders of the UNP. This is an unprecedented move as it has belittled the importance of the position of the General Secretary of the party. Alles and Sirasa had nothing to do with internal matters of the United National party” a Working Committee member, who was present at the meeting yesterday, told Asian Mirror.

He also said that there should be a separate inquiry into the conduct of Attanayake to ascertain whether he obtained permission from the decision making bodies of the party to discuss its internal matters with outsiders.

Attanayake strongly backed Premadasa in his run up to the deputy leader’s position in the party. He resigned from the Leadership Council of the Leadership Council of the party just a day before the crucial Working Committee meeting which appointed Premadasa as the Deputy Leader of the party. However, at the Working Committee meeting yesterday, no decision was made on the dissolution of the Leadership Council.