UNP Acting Leader calls on members to be cautious, maintain decorum, and unite to face party crises

Acting Leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP), Karu Jayasuriya has appealed to party colleagues to be cautious, maintain decorum and have a united approach in the face of one of the worst crises faced by the party in its glorious 60-year history.



He also observed that there is a need for the UNP, like any institutional structure, to possess a succession plan.
"Before we resort to squabbling over positions, let us first work to ensure there is a party left worth fighting for. The UNP needs to wake up and take the fight to this regime," he noted.

Jayasuriya stated that it is the internal rifts and challenges within the UNP that had stunted the role of the opposition and allowed the government a blank cheque to get on with its business 'in any merry way they please.'
"Leadership battles, personality clashes and backroom negotiations and horse-trading have taken precedence over a crying need for the UNP to go back to its roots, to seek out the grassroots support that was once unquestionably ours and find ways in which to stall the government juggernaut as it rolls along, dragging Sri Lanka along a path of anarchy, repression and economic ruin," he said.
According to Jayasuriya, even though it struggles to overcome this crisis period, it is the UNP that can and will one day reverse the trend this government is leading Sri Lanka on.
"This party is founded on honorable principles and the efforts of great men who to this day are regarded as the heroes of this nation. We will not be kept down for much longer. We urge party colleagues to join us in taking the fight to this government now, rather than allowing the situation to deteriorate further," he stated.