For the second consecutive day, the Sri Lankan Parliament is likely to witness chaos and commotion as President Maithripala Sirisena has called for a meeting of all MPs who voted in Wednesday's no-confidence motion against controversially appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Tamil MPs have decided to boycott the parliament meet, which is scheduled for 10am on Thursday.
"We will not attend the meeting with the President today morning at his secretariat. Our firm position is that 122 MPs have passed a NCM (no confidence motion) yesterday. Any 'crisis solution' shall begin from this point," Tamil Progressive Alliance leader Mano Ganesan said.
It is to be noted that Sirisena had rejected the no-confidence motion saying proper constitutional procedures were not followed for the same. "The president shall appoint as prime minister the member of parliament, who, in the president's opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of parliament," local newspapers quoted a letter from Sirisena. It is expected that Sirisena will evaluate the current situation and take a decision.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka had overturned President Sirisena's dissolution of parliament, in favour of sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and also put on hold snap elections declared for January 5.
(With inputs from Lakshmi Subramanian)
