Joseph Michael Perera quits UNP Working Committee over Ravi

Former MP Joseph Michael Perera says that he has resigned from the UNP Working Committee, in protest of the appointing of Ravi Karunanayake as the party’s Assistant Leader.  

Speaking to Ada Derana, the former minister stated that he walked out of today’s Working Committee meeting and vowed never to return again. 

“I am against Ravi Karunanayake as Assistant Leader. I said it is not right for me to express my views then and asked whether I can express my views outside. As a member of the Working Committee I cannot do so. Therefore I resigned from the Working Committee and left,” he said, speaking to reporters outside the party headquarters. 

Perera stated that he was the only one who stood up and raised objections to appointing Ravi Karunanayake as Assistant Leader. 

Perera and Karunanayake were both famously involved in a public argument during a UNP youth conference in Gampaha last year after the former was not given an opportunity to address the event organized by the party’s youth wing.