SLFP member and UPFA Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake said that members of the SLFP have been given the freedom to express their views on any issue but this did not mean there was a split.

He said when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power and was the head of the SLFP, all SLFP members had no choice but to agree with his views. Dissanayake said that he was forced to back the controversial 18th Amendment to the constitution when Rajapaksa was in power as no SLFP member was given the freedom to make their own decisions.

However he said during the 2016 budget debate the new SLFP leadership gave the party the freedom to decide on their own and several SLFP members raised concerns on the budget proposals despite the SLFP being part of the coalition Government.