• Committee to be formed to identify what is to be done   
• Anti-Govt parties and groups divided on next leader

By Kelum Bandara 

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who played a key role cobbling together an alliance to install the previous Yahapalana government came to the forefront yesterday by calling for a meeting with the political parties and groups opposed to the government to discuss the way out of the current political crisis.   The meeting was attended by MPs Kumara Welgama, Patali Champika Ranawaka and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem , Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran and others. Mr. Premadasa did not wait till the end of the meeting.  

She discussed the need to appoint a committee to identify priorities to be done at this time because of differences among the parties opposed to the government on the way forward. The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) insists that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should step down as the first step to consider any interim arrangement.   

However, the parties and the group that declared independent of the government are not in favour of removal of the president. Also, there is no consensus among them on the next leadership in the event of the Cabinet standing dissolved or the president stepping down.   

Therefore, at yesterday’s meeting, the parties decided to form a committee to identify what is be done. They decided that general consensus should be there on the political steps to be taken even after the interim administration.   

• the parties and the group that declared independent of the government are not in favour of removal of the president