“Will never appoint Ranil Wickremsinghe as Prime Minister again”:Sri Lankan President

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has asserted that he will never appoint Ranil Wickremsinghe as Prime Minister again as there should be a PM whom it is compatible to work with.

Addressing a group of foreign journalists in Colombo this morning, Mr. Sirisena said he will not appoint Mr. Wickremsinghe in his lifetime even if United National Front (UNF) led by him has the majority.President reiterated the charges against Mr. Wickremsinghe government and said he will appoint a commission of enquiry to investigate cases of fraud and corruption during his government.

Mr. Sirisena said there were differences on opinion with Mr. Wickremsinghe since the beginning of government in 2015 but he carried on as the latter had played an important role in his election as President. Mr. Wickresmsinghe was removed as PM last month and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed in his place. Mr. Sirisena termed the current situation as political unrest of mild form and don’t see it as a major crisis.

He sought to defend his decision to dissolve parliament saying there are three places in constitution which mentions his powers to do so while one place mentions the restriction of four and half years. Talking of no confidence motion against Mr. Rajapaksa government, the President said the motions were not carried as per procedure and once passed in rightful way, Mr. Rajapaksa will take a view on that.

He added that parliament speaker took the no confidence motion hurriedly on 14th of this month thinking that he will prorogue the parliament again.