Jan 22, Colombo: Parliamentarians defected from Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) to the government plan to take legal action against the party's decision to initiate disciplinary action against them.

The UNP leadership said that disciplinary actions will be taken against the 16 members of parliament who were elected under the UNP ticket at the 2010t general election and later crossed over to the government for violating the party stance and voting with the government for the impeachment of the former Chief Justice.

The party leadership has informed the defected MPs that they are required to vote against the impeachment motion in parliament but some have voted with the government.

Parliamentarian Manusha Nanayakkara who defected to the government from the UNP has said that the crossed-over MPs will take legal action against the UNP over its decision to initiate disciplinary action for supporting the impeachment.

He has told the media that the persons who voted against the impeachment were trying to discredit the country.

According to Nanayakkara, the UNP has sought a clarification from the members who have defected to the government within the next two days and are to be dealt with through lawyers.

If the party leadership decides to expel the MPs from the party, the crossed-over MPs will lose their seats.