• Essential to hand over nation to the best person who could pull the country through from present crisis
• I  think and feel that the former Prime Minister will become the custodian of  the nation

By Yohan Perera

UNP Chairman Vajira Abeywardene yesterday hinted that there will be a national consensus soon where all the parties will get together to resolve the crisis which Sri Lanka has been plunged into currently.  

Abeywardene told a press conference that there is a possibility of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe playing a major role in the event a national consensus is reached. “The need of the hour is to establish a national consensus forgetting party politics. It is also essential to hand over the nation to the best person who could pull the country through from the present economic crisis. The best person who could handle the economy is Mr. Wickremesinghe,” Abeywardene said. 

“ I  think and feel that the former Prime Minister will become the custodian of the nation,” Abeywardene said in response to a question raised by journalists as to whether Wickremesinghe will get a prominent post in the future. 
“What Sri Lanka needs is a political reform similar to that of Russia in 1999 where the then Russian  President Boris Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin as the Prime Minister. Mr. Puttin performed successfully and then became the president of the nation,” Abeywardene said. 

“Some of the political leaders want the present rulers to hand over the nation to them to perform. However things should be the other way round where one has to perform first  to prove themselves,” he also said. 

• What Sri Lanka needs is a political reform similar to that of Russia in 1999