After sacking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapakse as the PM in Colombo. This is due to the President’s party exiting the ruling coalition. Earlier, Sirisena’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was in coalition with Ranil’s United National Party (UNP).
The swearing-in ceremony was conducted in a rather hurried manner. The legality carries a big question mark as a 2015 constitutional amendment removes the president of his/her power to sack the prime minister. After several disagreements between Wickremesinghe and Sirisena, the political developments have taken place. The clash is expected to have occurred over the decision to lease a container terminal to India.
Rajapaksa, who ruled for 10 years in Sri Lanka, was defeated with the help of Wickremesinghe. The latter has said that the appointment of Rajapaksa is “illegal and unconstitutional” and in a television conversation with a news channel, said that he will continue to remain the Prime Minister, The New Indian Express reported.
Rajapaksa and Sirisena together hold only 95 seats, nowhere close to the majority mark where as Wickremesinghe has 106 seats, which is just seven seats short of the majority. Rajapksa’s track-record remains abysmal as he ended the Tamil Tiger struggle in 2009 that killed more than 40,000 ethnic Tamils in a military assault. Corruption charges cast a shadow over his credibility and political murders have been often witnessed.
Comments ↓
An Appeal...
Dear Reader,
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.