In Sri Lanka, the ruling United National Party, UNP today dismissed the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's claim that the current unity government would be toppled next year. General Secretary of the UNP and Minister Kabir Hashim dismissed the claim as an idle threat adding that elected government cannot be toppled till completion of four and half years under 19th Amendment to the Constitution. He dismissed it as nothing new adding that Rajapakse has been saying this from the day President Maithripala Sirisena was appointed as the President of the country. <br/><br/>The former President in a media conference yesterday had said that his goal is to come back to power in 2017. UNP has formed a national unity government with President Sirisena's Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) last year. <br/><br/>However, the government has come under criticism over its stated failure to fulfill its promises while division between the two main political parties has come into the open. Mr Rajapakse, though part of SLFP is the leading figure of Joint Opposition, formed to challenge the policies of current government.