By Skandha Gunasekara The much-awaited decision on the leadership of the United National Party (UNP) was once again delayed, as last week’s meeting ended with the failure to reach a conclusive resolution and Sajith Premadasa’s camp adamant to form its own alliance from within the party to face the next general election. During the UNP parliamentary group meeting held on 9 January, it was indicated by the current leadership that it was crucial to regain the Sinhala-Buddhist vote – the loss of which many believe was a key factor in New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Premadasa's defeat at the presidential election in November. Subsequently, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had noted that Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya had the support of the Sinhala-Buddhist voters and went on to propose that a leadership council be set up with Jayasuriya as its head. While a group of UNP MPs including Navin Dissanayake, Vajira Abeywardana, Daya Gamage, Dr. Ashu Marasinghe, and Palitha Range Bandara extended support for the proposal, the parliamentarians in the Premadasa camp fervently opposed the move. The meeting ended following a heated debate with a decision to meet once again last Thursday (16) to take a vote on the future leadership of the party. Thursday’s meeting began around 5 p.m. and went on till about 9 p.m. Prior to the meeting, UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana told The Sunday Morning that he expected the meeting would result in conclusive decisions regarding the party’s future. “We are hopeful that a final decision would be taken with regard to the party’s leadership as well as its future. It is important the party decides on what steps to take with regard to its future, especially when facing an election,” Pathirana said. The meeting heated up around 8.20 p.m. when the leadership had failed to call for a vote. Party General Secretary MP Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told The Sunday Morning that the meeting had ended by around 8.30 p.m. without any conclusive decision. “There was a proposal to form a leadership council headed by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. However, no final decision was taken and the meeting ended,” he said. He added that no vote had been taken despite claims from the Premadasa faction that they had achieved the majority during a vote. “No, there was no vote taken at the meeting. Some MPs were just fooling around pretending to go for a vote, but no seniors or the leadership of the party were present at the time,” Kariyawasam told The Sunday Morning. Meanwhile, a backbencher MP aligned with the Sajith Premadasa camp, MP Chaminda Wijesiri, said that there had been demands from many at the meeting to go for a vote but the party hierarchy had shot down all such requests. “There were calls for a vote but Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe refused and said it was unnecessary and would cause a divide within the party,” Wijesiri said. However, he said that the MPs in support of Premadasa had insisted that a vote be taken, at which point a number of senior MPs had left the meeting. “The Premadasa camp persistently demanded that a vote be taken. At this point, around 13 senior MPs got up and left the meeting.” He said that thereafter, the Premadasa faction had engaged in intense discussions on forming a broad alliance within the UNP which would be headed by Opposition Leader Premadasa. “There was much discussion about forming a broad alliance with Sajith as its leader. I think that it looks like one of the avenues we will have to take if the turmoil over the party leadership is not resolved soon,” Wijesiri said. He said the alliance would be open to any political party including those in the United National Front (UNF). “Our alliance would be from within the UNP itself. No one will leave the party under any circumstance. All political parties are welcome to join and this would also mean the parties that are part of the United National Front,” Wijesiri said. UNP MP Ajith P. Perera said that a meeting had been held between the party leaders of the UNF and senior UNP MPs including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Parliament on Friday (17) where it was decided that an alliance would be formed under the leadership.