Sri Lanka monk party, opposition discusses clergy in politics issue

Representatives of Sri Lanka's Buddhist monk party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), met leader of opposition and United national party (UNP) Ranil Wickremasinghe yesterday to discuss the private member's motion on clergy in politics.
The private member's motion to be tabled in the parliament by the UNP legislator Wijedasa Rajapakse calls for banning the clergy of any religion from entering the parliament. The JHU delegation led by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka had requested that the motion be reconsidered and not tabled in Parliament. However, the UNP delegation led by Wickremasinghe had told the JHU that the UNP would take a decision on the matter when the Bill is taken up for debate. General Secretary of the UNP has said that party members had a right to present a private member's motion and would not stop the MP from presenting the motion.