They are in two camps on the instructions of president Maithripala Sirisena, he told journalists in Kandy yesterday (25) after calling on the Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters.

It is the UNP that will gain by a division in the joint opposition and the SLFP, Amaraweera said, adding his objective was to form a UPFA regime again by 2020.

The president, who will remain in office for six years, can dissolve the present government only after 4 ½ years, he noted adding, they had no hopes of remaining in government with the UNP forever.

The national government was able to save the country from international condemnation and prevented war heroes from being tried at international courts, he said.

The country has democracy now, and the bans on fisheries and garment product exports would soon be removed, he said.

Meanwhile, SLFP senior vice president W.D.J. Seneviratne told the journalists yesterday there was no need to discipline the party MPs who had attended the joint opposition rally at Hyde Park.

No participant criticized the SLFP or its leadership on the occasion, he said.