Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena takes charge of economy as coalition rift widens

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's president announced Saturday that he would take control of the island's economy from the prime minister, as relations worsen between the ruling party and its main coalition partner.

Maithripala Sirisena said he would directly manage the economy through a special economic council headed by him, taking over the responsibility from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his United National Party (UNP).

"Although the UNP was allowed to manage the economy in the past three years, from this month, the President will take it over," his office said in a statement.

Sirisena joined hands with the UNP to topple Mahinda Rajapakse in January 2015, ending the strongman president's decade in power.

But since then their alliance has fractured, with Sirisena clashing with free-market champion Wickremesinghe over economic policy.

There was no immediate reaction from Wickremesinghe to the decision, which came after a heated cabinet meeting in which Sirisena accused the UNP of unleashing a smear campaign against him, according to sources close to the president.

Tensions between the coalition partners have escalated over Sirisena's efforts to extend his presidential term by one more year till 2021, a move that was shot down by the Supreme Court last week.

The UNP has indicated it may go it alone in the next general election in 2020.

Sirisena has publicly accused the UNP of being more corrupt than the Rajapakse regime which they both ousted.

During his rule, Rajapakse granted himself greater powers over the police, judiciary and civil servants, excesses which Sirisena pledged to curb upon his election.

Parliament voted overwhelmingly in early 2015 to restrict the power of the presidency, restoring a two-term limit and reviving independent bodies to manage key institutions such as the police and the judiciary.

In recent weeks, Sirisena has sought to assert his authority, reimposing a four-decade-long ban on women buying liquor, just days after his finance minister and UNP leader Mangala Samaraweera lifted the restriction earlier this month.