Their motive is to gain power somehow, says SLFP senior vice president John Seneviratne.

He said that JHU’s Athuraliye Rathana Thera and Champika Ranawaka, who had said they would never allow the UNP to gain power or that they would never join that party, are now with the UNP.

Many parties may have got together, but their conflicting policies would mean that a government formed by them would never be stable, he said.

A large group has joined together to work with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, while a few refuse to do so due to their insincerity and for personal reasons, he was quoted by BBC Sandeshaya as saying.