{"id":61260,"date":"2018-10-27T04:31:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T08:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61260"},"modified":"2018-10-27T04:32:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T08:32:13","slug":"a-statement-a-rejection-and-a-press-conference-led-to-president-sirisena-removing-ranil-wickremesinghe-as-prime-minister-and-replacing-him-with-mahinda-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61260","title":{"rendered":"A Statement, a Rejection and a Press Conference Led to President Sirisena Removing Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister and Replacing Him With Mahinda Rajapaksa."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

At least three recent developments appear to have incrementally led to President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s sudden decision on Friday, to sack Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

According to top political sources in Colombo it was \u201ca statement\u201d, \u201ca rejection\u201d and \u201ca press conference\u201d that escalated tensions to the brim.<\/p>\n

While Sri Lankans knew how fragile their national unity government was, three years since it ascended to power, few expected the fallout to manifest at this time and in this manner. A Rajapaksa-Sirisena regrouping has been on the cards and local media widely reported that they met recently, to discuss an alliance.<\/p>\n

All the same, there was no certainty about their coming together, given the complex dynamic between the duo since 2015, when Mr. Sirisena defected from Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s government and dislodged him. As they joined hands to claim power on Friday, apparently challenging constitutional and parliamentary logic, it was a jolt to many, including some of Mr. Sirisena\u2019s own supporters.<\/p>\n

How did the said three factors contribute to the current political crisis?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ranil-Modi meet<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to sources close to Mr. Sirisena, \u201cthe end\u201d of the unity government began a week ago. Mr. Wickremesinghe\u2019s strongly-worded statement from New Delhi soon after his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20, precipitated the final crisis before the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statement seemed targeted at the President, almost holding him directly responsible for the delay in Indian projects here,\u201d a Colombo-based political source said, requesting anonymity. Reportedly, the PM had not consulted the President\u2019s office before releasing the message that surprised New Delhi too.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitutional Council rejected two of Mr. Sirisena\u2019s nominees for vacancies at the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

‘Assassination’ plot<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday, Sri Lanka police held a special media briefing on the alleged assassination plot targeting Mr. Sirisena \u2013 a matter that had caused a storm at last week\u2019s cabinet meeting. Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara told press persons that CID investigations of police informant Namal Kumar\u2019s phone recordings \u2013 Mr. Kumara had earlier claimed awareness of the \u201cplot\u201d\u2013 had no evidence linking any of the recordings to the said conspiracy. Sources indicated that the police\u2019s message appeared to \u201cbelittle\u201d a life threat to the Head of State.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was perhaps the cumulative effect of all these different developments,\u201d said a top government source who did not wish to be named.<\/p>\n

State media \u2018taken over\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile State-owned Lake House newspapers were taken over by the Rajapaksa-backed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) trade unions late Friday, the Daily FT here reported.<\/p>\n

The State-run Daily News on Saturday led with the story \u2018Mahinda Sworn in as PM\u2019 indicating that the newspaper is no longer controlled by the Media Ministry helmed by the UNP\u2019s Mangala Samaraweera. Mr. Samaraweera, in a tweet, had termed Friday\u2019s political developments \u201can anti-democratic coup\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reuters news agency reported that State-run Rupavahini television station went off-air \u201cbriefly\u201d when three ministers, including Mr. Samaraweera and Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne, prepared for a live telecast.<\/p>\n

Sources close to Mr. Rajapaksa claimed that a new cabinet of ministers would be discussed Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan At least three recent developments appear to have incrementally led to President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s sudden decision on Friday, to sack Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to top political sources in Colombo it was \u201ca statement\u201d, \u201ca rejection\u201d and \u201ca press conference\u201d that escalated tensions …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘A Statement, a Rejection and a Press Conference Led to President Sirisena Removing Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister and Replacing Him With Mahinda Rajapaksa.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61261,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61260\/revisions\/61261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}