Rajapakse briefs JHU, UPFA allies on MoU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2006, 16:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse in the capacity of the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) briefed the constituent parties of his United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in two separate discussions held Saturday on the details of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the SLFP and the main opposition United National Party (UNP), political sources in Colombo said.

SLFP is the main constituent of the UPFA government.

Both main political parties, UNP and SLFP, have agreed on six identified issues giving top priority to the ethnic conflict and formulated a common national agenda. Both parties are scheduled to sign the MoU regarding the implementation of the agenda, sources said.

Minister D.M.Jayaratna, General Secretary of the Peoples Alliance (PA), Minister Dinesh Gunawardene, leader of the Mahajana Exsath Peramuna (MEP), Minister D.E.W.Gunasekara, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Communist Party (SLCP), Professor Tissa Vitarana, General Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Minister Ms Ferial Ashraff, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA) participated in the first discussion, sources said.

JHU delegation led by its President Venerable Ellewale Methananda Thera met with the President later, sources said.