An all-party leaders’ meeting will be held on Tuesday at the Sri Lankan Parliament, where Speaker Karu Jayasuriya may announce a date for reconvening the House, lawmakers said.
On Monday, deposed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said most MPs had asked for the reconvening of Parliament. President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday prorogued the House until November 16.
“We believe that the Speaker is likely to consider reconvening the Parliament since several parties have made the request formally,” a lawmaker from one of the parties in Opposition said, requesting anonymity.
Mr. Wickremesinghe, who addressed Colombo-based foreign correspondents at Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s official residence, ruled out legal action to challenge President Sirisena’s recent move sacking him, and appointing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. “The supreme judicial power is vested in parliament, why go elsewhere?” argued the lawyer-turned-politician.
Sirisena inducts 14 Ministers
Mr. Sirisena’s snap move on Friday, soon after he withdrew support from government, has put the country in an extraordinary situation, with two Prime Ministers and two Cabinets as of Monday.
President Sirisena on Monday evening swore in 12 new cabinet ministers, and two junior ministers, in a ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat. Except recently-appointed PM Mr. Rajapaksa, who also assumed charge as Finance Minister, most other Ministerial posts went to MPs from Mr. Sirisena’s faction that quit the ruling coalition last week. Significantly, four MPs from Mr. Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) were sworn in as Ministers, revealing last-minute cross-overs this weekend.
Ahead of the ceremony, President Sirisena met some 40 heads of diplomatic missions here for a discussion that lasted nearly two-hours. He emphasised that his recent move was constitutional, according to diplomatic sources. Mr Sirisena reportedly told the participants that “nearly 70 to 75 per cent” of the public wanted to see Mr. Wickremesinghe removed from the post of PM, and urged them to “see the pulse of the people”. In an attempt to justify his order proroguing parliament until November 16, Mr. Sirisena is believed to have said that the time was needed for the “new cabinet” to settle in and prepare for the imminent Budget.
Representatives from many Western diplomatic missions, The Hindu learns, made a strong case for respecting democracy and the Constitution, urging the President to summon Parliament at the earliest.