By Anura Balasuriya Courtesy The Island

President Maithripala Sirisena told Joint Opposition (JO) MPs yesterday that he would consult the Attorney General and legal experts on the possibility of removing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as regards the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The President said so when he met the JO parliament group members led by MP Dinesh Gunawardena at the President’s official residence in Colombo yesterday morning.

The JO MPs pledged to extend its fullest support for forming a UPFA government.

A committee comprising MPs Gunawardena and Minister Susil Premjayanth was appointed to iron out differences between the JO and the UPFA.

The JO group of MPs informed the President that they would support the UPFA government without obtaining any ministerial portfolios or official responsibilities.

Minister Susil Premjayanth, JO senior members Vasudeva Nanayakkara,Kumara Welgama, Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, C. B. Ratnayake and Gamini Lokuge attended the meeting with the President.

MP Welgama jokingly told the President that the meeting was being held during rahu kalaya (inauspicious time). The President smilingly observed that the horoscopes of all those present were powerful and, therefore, there was not need for anyone to be worried.

Whe the JO MPs were informed that the SLFP wanted to appoint Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva the Prime Minister, Welgama said the JO was loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and, therefore, it would not be part of any government with anyone else as the PM, but it would back an SLFP-led government without accepting ministerial posts.

Earlier in the day, Minister Premajayanth met former Rajapaksa and informed him that the President was exploring the possibility of establishing a UPFA government with the support of the JO group of parliamentarians.

At this meeting, the JO group members told the President that they had 50 MPs in their group and assured him that all of them could support the proposed UPFA government.

At this point the President told them that he would consult the Attorney General and legal experts to find out whether the 19th Amendment to the Constitution provided for the removal of the Prime Minister.