It is said that Ashoka Abeygunawardena, a bigwig of the 'Pivithuru Hetak' organisation of Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera had recently met with Gotabaya Rajapaksa to secure his assent on the matter.

The meeting held at Cinnamon Grand hotel in Colombo, was also attended by businessman - Dilith Jayaweera, who is a close aide of the former defence secretary.

Speaking, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has emphasised that he is deeply distressed by the present behaviour of Sri Lankan politicians and therefore, has no intention of joining active politics.

Upon inquiring on this regard, a SLFP minister told 'Sri Lanka MIrror' that although they have learnt of such a meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena has no intention of naming a single Rajapaksa as Prime ministerial candidate.