UNP Working Committee appointed: Prominent members lose clout
April 6, 2011 08:24 pm
The United National Party (UNP) finally appointed its Working Committee today when party members met at their leader’s office at Cambridge Terrace. Several prominent persons holding office in the earlier Working Committee have been dropped this time round, according to the list submitted to the media.
Prominent among those who held office in the Working Committee earlier are Colombo District Parliamentarian Rosy Senanayake, Matara District Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana, Ratnapura District Parliamentarian Dunesh Gankanda and ex-Parliamentarians Imtiaz Bakeer Markar and Matale’s Ranjith Aluvihare among others.
Among the over 80 members to be appointed to the UNP Working Committee, party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has the authority to appoint 20 members. The remaining positions would be filled by others of the caliber of District Organisers and senior members.
However, Mr. Wickremesinghe has appointed only 16 members so far and positions for four more are still open, according to party sources.
Another notable appointment is of Gampaha District Parliamentarian Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena as the Deputy General Secretary, earlier held by Badulla’s Lakshman Seneviratne who crossed over to the government side some time back and who is currently the Minister of Productivity Promotion.
Kandy’s Lakshman Kiriella and Joseph Michael Perera have been appointed Senior Deputy Chairmen of the UNP while Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake and Kabeer Hashim have been appointed Vice Chairmen and Renuka Herath and K. Velayuthan were appointed as Additional Secretaries. Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekera has been appointed deputy to the Chief Opposition Whip.
