UNP chairman teared the MoU signed with Rajapaksa into pieces

General Secretary of the United Nationbal Party (UNP), Tissa Attanayake, said Rajapaksa has violated one of the important clauses of the MoU by offering portfolios to UNP dissidents.

Eighteen UNP parliamentarians, including former UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, sworn in as Ministers in the Rajapaksa administration on Sunday.

MoU 'destroyed'

"We should no longer abide by the MoU, if the President thinks the government does not need our support", Attanayake told BBC Sandeshaya.

In a media briefing in Colombo on Sunday, UNP chairman Rukman Senanayake teared the MoU into pieces.

We should no longer abide by the MoU, if the President thinks the government does not need our support Tissa Attanayake

The UNP and Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) signed an MoU to work together on national issues in October, last year.

The move was hailed as an "historic event" as the two parties were accused of blocking each others moves to solve Sri Lanka's national question.

'Hidden agenda'

The UNP General Secretary accused the dissident parliamentarians of working on their own agenda.

The rebel MPs campaigned for the reforms in the UNP after Ranil Wickramasinghe lost the presidential elections in November 2005.

They were actually woking on a hidden agenda to join the government, Attanayake told bbcsinhala.com.

The UNP would take disciplinary action against the rebels after consulting the Working Committee, the General Secretary warned.