Former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has requested president Maithripala Sirisena for an UPFA national list MP position that is currently vacant, reports say.
Sources further note that she has also urged the president to remove Mahinda Rajapaksa from the positions of opposition leader and from his MP seat. Mr. Rajapaksa recently assumed the leadership of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
However, the president has reportedly not given his word to do so, only agreeing to consider it in the near future.
Meanwhile, sources from the presidential secretariat say that a group of advisors to the president have also said pointed out that naming Ms. Kumaratunga as a national list MP would also enhance goodwill between her and the president.
They have also noted that this would be beneficial to the president, who is not politically stable at the present.
Also, it is said that several Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) bigwigs who had crossed over to the SLPP are dejected after Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was named as the presidential candidate of the SLPP.
In this backdrop, aligning with Ms. Kumaratunga could be a decisive factor for the SLFP at the upcoming presidential election, the advisors have pointed out further.
(Mirror)