Oct 02, Anuradhapura: In a dramatic move, the North Central Provincial Council of Sri Lanka has elected a councilor proposed by the opposition as the chairman.

Opposition United National Party (UNP) has proposed the name of T.M.R. Siripala as the chairman of the Provincial Council. Siripala is however a member of the ruling United People's Freedom alliance (UPFA).

UPFA also has proposed another party member, Amarakeerthi Athukorala as the Chairman.

In the election, Siripala has received 21 votes while Athukorala has gained only 10 votes. The incident is believed to be a show of power of former Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayaka who sat in the house as a backbencher when the Provincial Council met for the first time under the leadership of the new Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith.

Dissanayake earlier said that 130 out of 150 governing party members in the local governments in the Anuradhapura District are prepared to resign from the respective bodies if he is not appointed as the Chief Minister.

The heated competition for the post between Dissanayake and the current CM, who received the most priority votes, was resolved only with the President's intervention.