Political crisis touches unprecedented low in Sri Lanka

Updated:6 years, 11 months ago

Colombo (Sri Lanka), Nov 17 (ANI): Sri Lanka has plunged into a deep political crisis. With no Prime Minister in place, the democratic framework of the country seems to be crumbling. But what actually happened? President Maithripala Sirisena sacked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and hastily appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. Sirisena also prevented Speaker Karu Jayasuriya from convening the House as Rajapaksa didn’t have the majority. It was done to give time to Rajapaksa to buy up Wickremesinghe's MPs, through inducement of office or money. China, whose protégé is Rajapaksa, is allegedly bankrolling this entire process. Later, Sirisena dissolved the legislature as all desperate and unethical efforts of Rajapaksa failed to gather majority. Fresh elections for January 2019 were announced. However, Supreme Court overturned the presidential decree and sought for reinstatement of the house. Rajapaksa lost the confidence motion twice after 122 MPs off the 225 lawmakers voted against him. Rattled by the defeat, Rajapaksa supporters created ruckus in the house. They threw books, chairs, chilli paste at the speaker. Rajapaksa is using all his muscle and money to intimidate opponents. An atmosphere of absolute terror now prevails in the country. A Supreme Court decision on 6th Dec will decide the future course of the Sri Lankan politics.