Sri Lanka Crisis: Ousted PM’s faction wins control of a key panel in Parliament

The faction of the ousted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickeremesinghe, has won control of a key panel in the country parliament, putting President Maithripala Sirisena and the PM that he recently appointed, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in deep trouble.

The faction, supports the President and the newly appointed PM, has staged walkout to express their deep dissatisfaction about the move.

Now, in the two member committee of the crucial panel of the Parliament, only less than five are from the faction backs the rulers.

Those unhappy with the speaker’s decision have alleged that the speaker has helped the illegitimate claimers the chance to destabilise the government.

As per the precedent, the ruling party are the one who is supposed to dominate the select committee.

There is no surprise that the appointment irritates the rulers, as the committee is one of the most powerful committees of the parliament and the ruling can expect serious headache if the committee is not under them.

Meanwhile, the supporters of the ousted PM have welcomed the move. They are of the opinion that the ousted PM is the legitimate owner of the PM post as he has the support of the majority of members of the parliament.

Earlier, the speaker tied to reach a consensus among the leading political parties about the appointment of the crucial panel. It was the failure that the meeting organised to reach the consensus witnessed that prompted the speaker to take an arbitrary decision in that issue.

Vignesh. S. G

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