Discussions between the leaders of the opposition political parties are underway on how to remove the current President and the government and implement a common program, sources said.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the National People’s Force Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Rauf Hakeem, Member of Parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance have been held rounds of discussions on the matter sources told to Lankasara..
Two special discussions were held in Colombo last week with the participation of the leaders of the group with the main opposition parties. Their aim is to hold further discussions in the early days of next week and work out a definite common plan as soon as possible.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Wimal-Gammanpila faction, independent political parties and members of the government have agreed to support the program they are discussing and presenting on a preliminary agreement. They are currently in talks with the government to get the president to agree on a common program.
It is learned that during these discussions it has been proposed to abolish the executive presidency or to repeal the existing 20th Amendment and replace it with the 19th Amendment.
The above parties are of the view that there is no point in implementing an interim government or any other mechanism when a President with full executive powers is at the top.
When inquired about this, a party leader who participated in the discussion told Lankasara that they hope to build a common program where all can work together within a specific time frame and after implementing it, they will protect their identities and contest elections.
The party leader said that the talks between his party and other political parties were very successful and that he hoped to implement a common program soon.
The leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Maithripala Sirisena says that the proposal to repeal the 20th amendment to the constitution and enact the 19th amendment will be presented to the President today, reports say.
It is learned that those who support the program representing the government and the independent parties are holding internal discussions with the government separately to find a solution to the problem by using the constitutional power of the parliament if the President does not like the common program.
Meanwhile The president has invited 41 MPs who deviated from the government and decided to be independent in the parliament to a meeting in this evening.
