The news reports cited that the duo had arrived at a political consensus and that senior SLFP MPs have informed President Maithripala Sirisena that the formulation of a new political party after splitting up the SLFP is based on this agreement.

However, Basil Rajapaksa says that he had not seen Ranil Wickremesinghe after Jan. 08, 2015 and had not held discussions with the PM or with any of his representatives.

The only time I saw the President was at the wedding of Arumugam Thondaman's daughter, he added.

However, he said that Rajitha Senaratna has met with him on several instances and Wijayadasa Rajapakshe had visited him at the prison. Other than that, I have no connections with the government, the former minister had said.

He added that these rumours are sparked by a group of SLFPers who meet the PM at the Cabinet meeting every week.

Attempts to contact officials of the Prime minister's office on this regard, were unsuccessful.