The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the United National Party (UNP) could work together under a dual-leadership arrangement that includes both Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, UNP Deputy General Secretary for Political Mobilisation Harin Fernando said on Wednesday.
Mr. Fernando said leadership could be shared between Mr. Premadasa and Mr. Wickremesinghe, and that such a structure could also create space for the emergence of new leaders within the combined movement. He named Harsha de Silva, Ruwan Wijewardene and Sujeewa Senasinghe as capable politicians who could play larger roles, describing the parties’ joint pool of talent as significant.
He called for greater unity at the grassroots level and invited the public to join “a national collective effort,” arguing that progress required cooperation rather than division.
The remarks are the most explicit public proposal yet from a senior UNP figure for a formal SJB-UNP reunification, six years after the SJB split from the UNP ahead of the 2020 election. The two parties have campaigned separately since, with the UNP returning a single national-list seat at the September 2024 general election while the SJB became the principal opposition force.
Mr. Fernando did not specify any process or timetable for negotiations, and there has been no immediate response from the SJB leadership. Mr. Premadasa was in Dehiwela earlier in the day protesting the arrest of an SJB social-media activist over a complaint at the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council.
Source: NewsFirst.
