Home Asia Sri Lankan President picks Mahindra Rajapaksa as PM

Sri Lankan President picks Mahindra Rajapaksa as PM

Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with new PM Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with new PM Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to a report, the current main opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, will assume duties soon after incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe steps down formally.

On Wednesday, Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa named his elder brother and former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister. He can officially resume his duties after incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe resigns from the post.

President Rajapaksa announced the news after the incumbent Wickremesinghe made an announcement regarding his resignation followed by election debacle. 

Wickremesinghe said that “I will step down to allow the new president to establish a new government. I will officially inform him of my decision tomorrow.”

Mahinda was appointed as Sri Lankan Prime Minister on October 26, 2018 by the then President Maithripala Sirisena. Later, he sacked Wickremesinghe in a controversial move. Due to which the country plunged into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

The two crucial Supreme Court decisions made the former strongman’s efforts to cling to premiership untenable resulting in his resignation in December. Later on the apex court unanimously declared that the dissolution of Parliament by Sirisena was “illegal.”

 Interestingly,at the age of 24 in 1970, Mahinda became the country’s youngest ever parliamentarian. Not just that, after coming to power in 2005, he become South Asia’s longest-serving leader.

Because of the decisive campaign led by the two brothers, the island nation witnessed the end of three decade long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe announced his resignation. Moreover, days after the ruling party’s candidate lost the presidential election to Rajapaksa. Importantly, Rajapaksa defeated Wickremesinghe’s deputy Sajith Premadasa.

According to a news report, the Prime Minister said that he had met President Rajapaksa on Tuesday. They discussed about the future of Sri Lanka’s Parliament. Significantly, the special statement was released in Sinhala language.