Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will propose Minister Sajith Premadasa’s name for presidential candidacy during the crucial meeting of the UNP’s Working Committee that is to be held this afternoon (26), says Minister Navin Dissanayake.

He stated this speaking to the media following a meeting of the senior UNP members held at the Temple Trees this morning.

Working Committee meeting of the UNP will take place at Sirikotha premises at 3.00 pm today. Minister Premadasa’s nomination is set to be approved at this meeting. The nomination will be subsequently directed to the parliamentary group of the United National Front (UNF).

Minister Navin Dissanayake, taking to his official Facebook page this morning, said the issue concerning the presidential candidacy of the UNF is resolved.

“Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa will be the candidate of the UNF and we will work hard untiringly for his victory,” his Facebook post read.

On Tuesday (24), an agreement was reached during a meeting of the senior members of the United National Party (UNP), chaired by party leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It was reported that several conditions had been presented when agreeing to give Minister Premadasa the candidacy.

Ministers Lakshman Kiriella, Kabir Hashim, Ravi Karunanayake, Navin Dissanayake, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Malik Samarawickrama had also participated in this discussion which was held at Temple Trees.

However, Minister Premadasa yesterday (25) stressed that he would be subjected to any such conditions. Speaking at a public meeting, UNP’s deputy leader said he is not anyone’s “puppet or scarecrow”.

In this backdrop, the UNP’s top brass yesterday met with the party leader and decided that the presidential candidacy must be given to Minister Premadasa under certain conditions.

The conditions include allowing PM Wickremesinghe to hold the leadership of the UNP and not making changes to the other positions of the party.

However, Minister Navin Dissanayake today said that such conditions will not be set on Minister Sajith Premadasa over presidential candidacy.