President Maithripala Sirisena and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa are reportedly scheduled to meet on May 6, according to local media reports.

A meeting between them is organized to iron out the differences and increase understanding between the two leaders. A committee of several Sri Lanka Freedom Party MPs was working on such a meeting for the past few weeks.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena were earlier scheduled to meet on April 25. However this meeting failed to materialize as Rajapaksa announced that he was busy with other commitments on that day.

SLFP is showing an increasing division with those loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa urging his return to politics. A sizeable section of the SLFP is now openly supporting the pro-Rajapaksa rallies which are organized by four smaller parties of the UPFA.