Colombo: In a relief to Sri Lanka’s embattled leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Parliament Speaker refused to endorse his sacking as the prime minister, even as President Maithripala Sirisena Sunday asserted that the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as his successor was in accordance with the Constitution.
In a letter to Sirisena, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya backed the ousted prime minister’s request to retain his privileges and security until another candidate could prove a majority, saying it was “democratic and fair”.
He also questioned the President’s decision to suspend Parliament till November 16, saying it will have “serious and undesirable” consequences on the country.
Sirisena Friday sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed former strongman Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. Next day, he suspended Parliament after Wickremesinghe, who had termed his sacking as illegal and unconstitutional, sought an emergency session to prove his majority.
The President also withdrew Wickremesinghe’s personal security and vehicles in order to accord them to his 72-year-old successor, who staged a dramatic political comeback.
In his first address to the nation after sacking Wickremesinghe, Sirisena said his former ally’s political conduct since the victory in 2015 elections was unbecoming.
“He appeared to treat Sri Lanka’s future as a joy ride for a coterie of people around him who had no sense of the common man’s thinking,’’ he said.
“He completely destroyed the concept of good governance while corruption and waste became rampant. He was making arrogant, arbitrary decisions making a mockery of collective responsibility.
“There was a huge gap in policy agreement between the two of us. I believe the cultural and policy differences between us contributed to this political and economic crisis,” Sirisena charged.
Meanwhile, newly-appointed premier Rajapaksa Sunday called for a snap parliamentary election to allow people vote for a new programme to overcome the island nation’s economic and political crisis. This was the first public statement by the former strongman since President Sirisena appointed him as the new prime minister after sacking Wickremesinghe.
Sirisena also accused the United National Party (UNP) leader of treating very lightly the alleged plot to assassinate him. The President last week accused his unity government partner of Wickremesinghe’s UNP of going slow on the investigations after a man named Namal Kumara in mid-September disclosed the alleged plot to assassinate him and former defence minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. “Having taken into consideration all crisis, the political and economic as well as the assassination plot on me, I was only left with one alternative which was to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister,” Sirisena said.
The political crisis in the island nation Sunday triggered violence as one person was killed and two others injured as the bodyguards of Petroleum Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, a Wickremesinghe loyalist, fired live rounds when supporters of Rajapaksa threatened the cabinet member.
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