Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe sacked, replaced with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

In a surprise move, President Maithripala Sirisena pulled his faction out of Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition on Friday. Within hours, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn-in as Prime Minister. The startling developments marked the collapse of the country’s first national unity government with Mr. Sirisena joining hands again with the leader he ousted in 2015.

However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) maintained that Mr. Rajapaksa’s appointment was “illegal and unconstitutional”.

“I am still the Prime Minister. This is an unconstitutional swearing in,” Mr. Wickremesinghe told a local television channel.

Open tensions

The growing friction between Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Wickremesinghe within the country’s uneasy coalition was no secret. However, Mr. Sirisena’s exit and dramatic re-alignment with Mr. Rajapaksa, whose government he quit in late 2014 to become President, was unexpected, coming ahead of the Budget debate scheduled for November.

More recently, Mr. Wickremesinghe’s strongly worded statement after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, on India’s disappointment with the pace of its projects in the island, appeared to target Mr. Sirisena.

Following a high-level meeting on Friday evening, the United People’s Freedom Alliance, chaired by President Sirisena, announced its decision to quit the unity government. Soon after came the appointment of Mr. Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, raising questions about the constitutional validity of the move.

Parties, including the UNP, held hectic meetings till late on Friday.

“We are aware of the developments and are watching the situation closely,” official sources in New Delhi said.