Former Chairman of the United National Party Malik Samarawickrama, who is considered to be a close associate of UNP National Leader Ranil Wcikremesinghe, has launched a fresh campaign against the party’s Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya targeting the forthcoming presidential candidate.

According to party sources, Jayasuriya, at the moment, holds an edge over others to be the UNP-backed common candidate of the opposition.

It is in this context that Samarawickrama has launched a campaign against Jayasuriya portraying him as a “traitor” who crossed over to the government along with 17 other Parliamentarians of the party. Samatarawickrama’s attempt however has not elicited a positive response from the large majority of UNP Parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, some prominent Buddhist monks have promised Jayasuriya’s supporters to issue a statement on behalf of him, saying his crossover to the government in 2007 was in the best interests of the country. Jayasuriya’s crossover took place soon after the Sri Lankan military embarked on the final phase of war against the LTTE.

However, UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa is still backing the candidacy of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to the Executive Presidency. Addressing a public meeting yesterday, Premadasa said Wickremesinghe would be the presidential candidate of the UNP and he would do his best to elevate Wcikremesinghe to presidency at the upcoming election.

Be that as it may, Wickremesinghe has already distanced himself from the race - to a certain extent – by giving his consent to consider the possibility of fielding a UNP backed common candidate.