Jathika Hela Urumaya Parliamentarian Athuraliye Rathana Thera announced that he and several government ministers will hand over the President a proposal of constitutional amendments to curtail the powers of the Executive Presidency.

He has told BBC that it will be hard to work with the government if the government does not accept these proposals and implement them before the presidential election.

Rathana Thera has said that these proposals were the result of about a year of negotiations with scholars, law experts, political parties such as the UNP and the JVP and even the left-wing parties in the government.

The proposals are to be announced in public on October 14 at BMICH.

Rathana Thera has also said that these are not proposals put forward by the JHU. The “Pivithuru Hetak” Organization led by Rathana Thera took the initiative in the formulation of these proposals.

He has further told BBC that he was prepared to leave the government if the proposals are not accepted and implemented. His intention is not to destroy the government but to make the government deliver the promises of Mahinda Chinthana, he has said further.