The stage is now set for a full-blown leadership battle between UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the party’s co-Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, according to Sirikotha based sources.

Reformists say a one-on-one at Sirikotha yesterday between Wickremesinghe and Jayasuriya failed to settle the dispute over the latter’s compliance with a request from the other co-Deputy of the UNP Sajith Premadasa to take over the party leadership.

At yesterday’s meeting, Jayasuriya had politely declined to retract a statement attributed to him following his meeting with a group of MPs led by Sajith Premadasa on July 28, sources said.

An attempt by the UNP leader to win over the majority of the parliamentary group, too, had failed with some alleging that Wickremesinghe had caused the latest crisis by appointing Colombo District MP Ravi Karunanayake as the National Organizer in violation of the new Constitution of the party, sources said.

Reformists would now press for an extraordinary meeting of the Executive meeting and National Convention to gain a boost for their campaign to change the leadership.

Ven. Meetiyagoda Gunaratne Thero, Head of the United Bhikku Front, affiliated to the UNP, said that they couldn’t turn a blind eye to the rapid deterioration of the party’s vote base. In a hard hitting letter addressed to UNP Leader Wickremesinghe, the Thera has urged him to hand over the party leadership to Jayasuriya as there was no one else who could unite the party and help it regain power.

Calling the Rajapaksa government a dictatorial regime, the monk has lashed out at Wickremesinghe for his failure to pressure the government to release defeated Opposition presidential candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The monk has said that Wickremesinghe should be ready to face the consequences if he ignores the urgent need to give up his hold on the party leadership.

-Island-