Sri Lanka opposition leader says reforms underway, but will take time

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Tuesday that party reforms are currently underway and that it would take some time to be completed.

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe told a press conference today that reforms take time and could not be completed within a day.
However, he dismissed allegations leveled by party members that the reforms were being cast aside.

He said that young members will be assigned more responsibilities once the reforms are implemented.
Wickremasinghe also said that the party membership of UNP Assistant General Secretary Lakshman Seneviratne and MP Earl Gunasekara has been cancelled.
Seneviratne and Gunasekara crossed over to the government last week with four other UNP MPs and voted with the ruling party in favor of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.
According to the UNP Leader, the party's disciplinary committee is to look into the conduct of the remaining UNP MPs who joined the government.
Meanwhile media reports said that the 25 UNP parliamentarians, who earlier threatened to sit independently in the Parliament if the crisis in the party is not resolved soon, were not satisfied with their leader's promises and have issued an ultimatum till September 22.
However, the opposition leader Monday denied any knowledge of such a decision by party members. According to Wickremasinghe, the respective MPs, whose names have been mentioned in the media as those planning to sit independently, have denied such a move.
Dayasiri Jayasekara, one of the parliamentarians threatening to sit independently when it convenes on September 23 has told local Daily Mirror online that if they do not receive a positive response by September 22 from Wickremasinghe, they will inform the Speaker of their decision.