All parties have a responsibility to respect the public opinion and ensure passage of the amendment, the party stresses.

It asks the parties in the name of the country and the nation not to give into petty personal agendas, act with a future vision and not to leave the people prisoners of personal agendas by fishing in troubled waters.

The statement issued by UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim says the JHU has no accountability to the condition of the abolition of the executive presidency since it had not been a party to the fight for same and for the formation of a common opposition.

The SLFP, which speaks against the 19th amendment today, had given the very same promise on several occasions in the past, but forgot it soon after gaining power, it notes.

It is clear this is a conspiracy aimed at the next parliamentary polls, it says, adding that it is unthinkable that the present golden opportunity in the country’s political history, if missed, will not happen again.