The UNP yesterday said that it was confident of defeating the no-confidence motion moved by the Joint Opposition (JO) against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with what it called a comfortable majority in Parliament tomorrow.
UNP Deputy General Secretary and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told a media briefing at Sirikotha that it was UNP leader and Premier Wickremesinghe who wanted to conclude the no-faith motion debate on April 4 when those who moved it wanted to delay it until after the conclusion of the traditional New Year.
“We are very confident that we will defeat the no-faith vote and therefore didn’t want to delay it any further,” he added.
The party insisted that it expected at least 120 votes for PM Wickremesinghe.
Kariyawasam lashed out at the SLFP ministers who were supporting the no-faith motion moved by the JO. He said they were in the government and some of them were holding ministerial portfolios even though they had not received a popular mandate to do so.