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India welcomes the end of the political crisis in Sri Lanka, India's Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said today (17), noting that such a result demonstrates the political maturity of the main forces and institutions of the country. 

"As a neighbor and sincere friend, India welcomes the resolution of the current political situation in Sri Lanka. That outcome is a reflection of the maturity of all political forces, as well as the strength of the Sri Lankan democracy and its institutions. India intends to further develop its people-centered projects in Sri Lanka. We are sure that the relations between two countries will continue on that upward trajectory," Kumar told journalists. 

On Sunday, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the head of the country's government once again following the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who announced that he stepped down from the post the day before.

United National Party (UNP) has invited all to the Galle Face Green to commemorate the struggle for justice, on Monday (Dec 17).

At a press conference held today (15), General Secretary of UNP, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, stated that they invite all public to join the celebrations disregarding party differences.

According to Kariyawasam, National organizations including the United National Front (UNF) and trade unions will be joining the rally.

Sri Lanka’s president has accused newly reappointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of corrupt leadership in a scathing speech.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who administered the oath that returned Mr Wickremesinghe to office, voiced doubts about their ability to work together and signalled the two-month political crisis is far from resolved.

He told the prime minister and a group of his politicians that he cannot find people of honesty and integrity to help him take the country forward.

“With the issues we have, I am not sure what guarantees we have that we could go on this journey together,” Mr Sirisena told Mr Wickremesinghe.

Mr Sirisena abruptly dismissed Mr Wickremesinghe on October 26 and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, with Mr Wickremesinghe insisting his removal was unlawful.

But Mr Rajapaksa continued to hold office with Mr Sirisena’s support, and his opponents went to court.

Supporters of ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe celebrate outside the supreme court complex in Colombo (Eranga Jayawardena/AP) 

The Court of Appeal suspended Mr Rajapaksa and his cabinet from functioning in their offices.

Mr Rajapaksa asked the Supreme Court to lift the suspension, but it refused and extended the suspension until mid-January, forcing Mr Rajapaksa to resign on Saturday.

Sri Lanka had been without a government from the time Mr Rajapaksa was suspended by the Court of Appeal and was facing the danger of being unable to spend government money from January 1 without a budget.

The swearing in of Mr Wickremesinghe took place privately, with only a few politicians in attendance and media not permitted.

It initially indicated an end to the impasse, but Mr Sirisena’s speech is a sign of more acrimony, possibly leading to early parliamentary elections.

Mr Wickremesinghe spoke separately at his official residence and refrained from responding to the president.

“Now I will assume duties of the office of prime minister,” he told his cheering supporters.

“Unfortunately, during the past few weeks, the progress of this country and the development programs that we undertook were stalled,” he said. “Not only that, the country went backward. Today we commit firstly to bring back normalcy and resuming the development program.”

In a televised speech, Mr Sirisena said his reasons for firing Mr Wickremesinghe included a lack of interest in helping investigate an alleged insider trade during a bond issue, in which a former Central Bank governor who is a close friend of Mr Wickremesinghe is implicated.

He also said Mr Wickremesinghe’s ministers alienated Buddhist monks by having them arrested for keeping unlicensed captive elephants at temples.

Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist nation with an influential clergy.

Mr Sirisena also criticised Mr Wickremesinghe for investigations into alleged abuses during the long civil war that ended in 2009. The president said Mr Wickremesinghe had only government soldiers arrested but had not looked into prosecuting former Tamil Tiger rebels he said were hiding in foreign countries.

“My view is that we should prosecute everyone, or else we should negotiate with the international community and free our soldiers (from accusations),” he said.

United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as the Prime Minister at the Presidential Secretariat at 10.30 am tomorrow (16), UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said.

He also said that the new Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn in on either Monday or Tuesday adding that the position of the Leader of the Opposition will be resolved when Parliament is convened.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been reinstated by President Maithripala Sirisena, the man who sacked him two months ago and plunged the island nation into chaos.

Sirisena administered the oath that restored Wickremesinghe to office on Sunday.

"We thank the citizens of the country who fought the illegal seizure of power and ensured that Democracy was restored," Wickremesinghe's United National Party wrote in a post on Twitter shortly after he was sworn in.

In late October Sirisena dismissed the cabinet and replaced Wickremesinghe with former strongman President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led the campaign to crush Tamil Tiger guerrillas in 2009. Rajapaksa stepped down from the post on Saturday.

The country's Supreme Court had ruled on Thursday that Sirisena's firing of the Prime Minister violated the constitution.

At the time of the sacking, Sirisena said he made the decision due to "political problems (and) economic troubles" which he believed only Rajapaksa could solve.

The decision created a constitutional crisis, with Wickremesinghe insisting he was still Prime Minister, leading to mass protests in the capital Colombo.

Sri Lanka's institutions had fought back in the wake of the President's decision, with Parliament passing a no-confidence motion in Rajapaksa in November and declaring his appointment "void and invalid."

Sirisena had attempted to dissolve Parliament to avoid the vote but the Supreme Court overturned that decision as well.The chaos has damaged Sri Lanka's economic standing, with Fitch Ratings downgrading it from 'B+' to 'B' in December due to the political upheaval.

It is reported that three parliamentarians, who crossed over from the United National Party to support the conspiratorial government, are having discussions to return to the UNP.

According to political sources, parliamentarians Wijeydasa Rajapaksha, S.B. Navinna and Dunesh Gankanda have had discussions over the phone with a leader from the United National Front (UNF). It is also learnt that Wijeydasa Rajapaksha had agreed to forgo a ministerial portfolio if he is appointed as the UNF organizer for either Maharagama or Homagama electorates.

The UNF parliamentarian who is facilitating the discussions with the three MPs is trying to persuade UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to accommodate them by stating that the UNF needs to strengthen its number of legislators in the House, sources said.

Certain parliamentarians representing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party have decided to form an internal faction within the party, informed political sources said.

Accordingly, SLFP MPs Mahinda Amaraweera, Duminda Dissanayake, Vijith Vijithamuni Soyza, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Faizer Mustapha, Dushmantha Mithrapala, Indika Bandaranayake, Lakshman Seneviratne, Kader Masthan, Sriyani Wijewickrema and a few others have grouped themselves together to form an alliance known as “Friends of January 08”.

Sources added that they will stand by the contours of the January 8 revolution and as such, will work towards protecting the promises made by the good governance regime prior to being elected in 2015.

The group have so far rejected offers to join Basil Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), sources added.
It is further reported that they have named SLFP MP Duminda Dissanayake as the convener of this faction.

They also said that a meeting of this faction was held at the residence of parliamentarian Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday (15), and had decided to function within the party while abiding by the policies and objectives of the SLFP.

However, it has not yet been decided whether this faction would join the new government that would be formed after the swearing-in ceremony of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, today (16).

Political sources say that a group of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians are planning to join the United National Party (UNP) in the future.

SLFP MPs are to be allocated several Cabinet portfolios in the new government after UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as Prime Minister on Sunday, sources added.

However, since this will be United National Front led government, the number of Cabinet portfolios will be limited to 30 and the number of State and Deputy Minister portfolios will be limited to 45.

Presidential Secretariat sources claim MP Mahinda Rajapaksa was asked to resign by President Maithripala Sirisena and did not leave on his own accord as being claimed. 

According to the source despite several claims of being able to secure a majority in parliament by the MR faction they were unable to do so and therefore President Sirisena asked him to vacate the post to prevent a further unstable situation and so that a new PM could be appointed.

The source also refuted MP Lakshman Yapa Abeywardhena’s claim that Rajapaksa resigned as Sirisena was not able to appoint a new PM while he remains in the position. “This does not allow the honour of creating stability in the country be accorded to the President,” the source said.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was appointed as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena in a controversial move, resigned today (15) as two crucial Supreme Court decisions made the embattled former strongman's efforts to cling to premiership untenable.

Rajapaksa was appointed as the prime minister on October 26 by President Sirisena in a controversial move after sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe, which plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

The Supreme Court on December 14 refused to stay a court order restraining Rajapaksa, 73, from holding the office of Prime Minister until it fully heard the case next month.

The apex court on December 13 unanimously declared that the dissolution of Parliament by Sirisena was "illegal".

Pro-Rajapaksa lawmaker, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, had told reporters that Rajapaksa decided in a meeting on December 14 with President Sirisena to resign to allow the President to appoint a new government.

Wickremesinghe is expected to take oath as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister on December 16.

President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly agreed to reinstate ousted Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in the post after a discussion with him over the phone on December 14.

The Government Medical Officers Association which maintained a stoic silence during the political coup in Sri Lanka as now once again threatened to launch a series of strike actions of Former Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne is once against appointed to his previous position. 

According to the GMOA, the decision will lead to a crisis situation in the health sector. The comments were made by Secretary of the GMOA Dr Nalinda Herath at a press conference held this week. He claimed the health sector suffered major setbacks at the hands of Senaratne. The group and the former Minister were at constant loggerheads during his tenure leading to the GMOA to conduct strikes thereby adversely affecting a general public on several occasions.

Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa will resign from the post of premiership after an address to the nation, son of former strongman president Namal Rajapaksa MP tweeted a short while ago.

Namal also said that they will look to form a broader alliance with the SLFP and president Maithripala Sirisena.