Friday, Sirisena wrote to Wickremesinghe, saying he had been removed. “The swearing in of Rajapaksa is illegal and unconstitutional and I will prove my majority in Parliament,” said Ranil Wickremesinghe.
In April, Wickremesinghe successfully defeated a no trust motion in Parliament engineered by Sirisena with backing from Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority. Wickremesinghe’s UNP has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of majority.
Political analysts said Sirisena’s move to install Rajapaksa as the prime minister could lead to a constitutional crisis as the 19th amendment to the Constitution would not allow the sacking of Wickremesinghe as the premier without a majority.
On the other hand Wickremesinghe said, “the country is not in a crisis, I am the PM and will continue to be the prime minister till I enjoy the majority in Parliament.”
