The United National Party (UNP) has appointed a three-member committee to engage in discussions with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the party announced in a statement issued today (16).
The committee includes UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene, UNP General Secretary Attorney-at-Law Thalatha Athukorala, and President’s Counsel Roland Perera.
Reaffirming its long-standing commitment, the UNP emphasized that its position remains clear — to bring all political parties together on a single platform to safeguard Sri Lanka’s democratic, multi-party system.
The appointment of this committee comes as a response to the SJB’s initiative, which recently formed a four-member team tasked with exploring the possibility of working collaboratively with the UNP.
That SJB committee comprises Kabir Hashim, S. M. Marikkar, Mujibur Rahuman, and Eran Wickramaratne, as previously announced by the Opposition’s Chief Organizer and SJB MP Gayantha Karunathilaka.
According to Karunathilaka, the SJB committee has been mandated to develop a proposal outlining potential avenues for cooperation with the UNP and to present it to SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa. This decision was reached during last week’s SJB Management Committee meeting, which unanimously agreed to explore ways of uniting the two parties while maintaining their individual identities.
He further noted that the SJB’s Executive Committee, having also approved the plan, endorsed the move for the SJB — as the main opposition — to take the lead in initiating structured cooperation with the UNP.
In essence, both parties now appear to be taking careful, coordinated steps toward exploring a potential political partnership, one built on shared democratic values and mutual respect for each other’s independence.
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