TNA ask Lanka Prez to reinstate sacked PM Wickremesinghe as Rajapaksha failed to prove majority

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA on Thursday demanded President Maithripala Sirisena to reinstate sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed as premier by him on October 26, has failed to to prove his majority.

The island nation is witnessing a political crisis since Sirisena's controversial move to sack Wickeremesinghe and install Rajapaksa as the prime minister in his place on October 26.

In a letter to Sirisena, signed by 14 of TNA's 16 legislators, the party said that Rajapaksa, who was appointed as prime minister by Sirisena on October 26, had not been able to prove his majority although one month has lapsed since then.

 

"Therefore, the TNA will support the restoration of the government headed by Wickremesinghe's UNP that existed prior to October 26," the letter said.

Sirisena later dissolved Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end, and ordered snap election. The Supreme Court overturned Sirisena's decision to dissolve Parliament and halted the preparations for snap polls.

Both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claim to be the prime ministers. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is invalid because he still holds a majority in the 225-member Parliament. While Rajapaksha had failed twice to prove his majority in Parliament.

The TNA's communique assumes significance as Sirisena-Rajapaksa combine has been claiming that Wickremesinghe lacked the 113 votes required to get a majority to become the prime minister.

The letter came after Speaker Karu Jayasuriyas met Sirisena, in what is being seen as a crisis meeting to end the impasse.

During a debate in Parliament this morning, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, a Sirisena loyalist, who was the only one to take part in the debate to suspend the expenditure of the Prime Minister's Office, invited Jayasuriya to hold talks with Sirisena with a view to end the crisis.

Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a motion to suspend the expenditure of the Prime Minister's Office, dealing a major blow to Rajapaksa.