The United National Party (UNP) has decided to boycott the former parliamentarian’s meeting called by the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister recently called all 225 parliamentarians of the former parliament for a meeting at the Temple Trees on May 04.

UNP issuing a statement said, although they do not accept this meeting as an alternative for reconvening the parliament officially, they had previously decided to attend the meeting to reiterate their stance that party politics should be discarded in the face of growing COVID-19 crisis.

However, UNP notes that, apart from former parliamentarians, all other political members and active political leaders have been invited to this meeting.

UNP says that a meaningful dialogue cannot take place at a meeting as such. The statement claims that the Rajapaksa regime had focused on party politics than the current need for national unity.

Therefore, the UNP has decided to boycott the aforementioned meeting, read the statement.

However, the UNP is prepared to support the government’s efforts at a time when the country is unstable due to the coronavirus crisis, the statement further said.

Nevertheless, for this to be successful, the government must assure that all actions taken are constitutional, concludes the statement.