The UNP has decided to suspend talks with the government on constitutional reforms claiming that the government was using the talks to make opposition members defect, party sources said.

Talks between UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Mahinda Rajapaksa on constitutional reforms would not continue, a senior party spokesman said.

Two committees had been appointed to decide on talks on amending the Constitution but they had not met since the initial meeting, UNP sources said.

The UNP demands that the government come up with a clear agenda and urges the government to submit its proposals on constitutional reforms, especially the 17th Amendment if the party is to reconsider its decision to withdraw from talks.

The UNP alleges that the government used talks as a tool to lure the Opposition MPs Prabha Ganeshan and P. Digambaram into defecting and is now attempting to engineer more crossovers.