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By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament on Saturday until November 16, a day after the dismissal of Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and his replacement by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in a surprise initiative that indicates an escalation of political tensions in the South Asian nation.
"The president prorogued the parliament," spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters.
A few minutes earlier, Wickremesinghe, who claims to remain prime minister, urged the president to summon Parliament to prove that he was maintaining his parliamentary majority.
"I have a majority in parliament, summoning parliament to solve this problem," said Wickremesinghe at a press conference in Colombo on Saturday, alongside all of his coalition partners in the US. except for the Sirisena party.
"Only parliament can show who has the majority," he said.
The suspension of parliament means that Wickremesinghe will not immediately have the opportunity to prove his majority, while some members of his party would seize Rajapaksa for benefits and ministerial portfolios.
The insular nation's finance and finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, on Friday condemned Rajapaksa's appointment as "an anti-democratic state coup" and a violation of the constitution.
A delegation from the European Union said Saturday that it was closely following events in Sri Lanka.
"We urge all parties to fully comply with the Sri Lankan Constitution, to refrain from any violence, to follow the current institutional process, to respect the independence of the institutions and the freedom of the media. "
Sirisena was sworn in Rajapaksa on Friday after sacking Wickremesinghe, who was on tour in the south of the country. Under Sri Lanka's constitution, the prime minister heads the parliament and the president has executive powers.
The political divide, which stems from weakening economic growth in Sri Lanka, follows months of infighting within the ruling coalition.
Relations between Wickremesinghe's Unified National Party (UNP) and Sirisensa's People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have recently been strained after Sirisensa blamed Wickremesinghe for failing to properly investigate a conspiracy of assassination directed against the president. The UPFA had threatened to leave the ruling coalition.
Sirisena accused the Indian intelligence services of having participated in this plot, a claim that New Delhi and Colombo have denied.
There has been no immediate response from India, which has long seen Sri Lanka, located near its southern tip, part of its area of influence. The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not responded to a request for comment on the change of leadership in Sri Lanka.
India is worried about Rajapaksa's remarks about China – it has ushered in billions of dollars in investment from Beijing to help rebuild the country following the end of a 26-year civil war against Tamil separatists in 2009.
This investment has since indebted the island country and forced it to cede control of a strategic port from the south to China, prompting criticism from India and the United States.
(Report by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez in COLOMBO, written by Zeba Siddiqui, edited by Michael Perry)
