Sri Lanka- China On Top After Political Coup

Sirisena engineers a political coup to bring back erstwhile ally Rajapaksa; receives China’s backing

- Frances Bulathsinghala/Colombo & Lakshmi Subramanian

Ranil Wickremesinghe was at a mosque in the southwestern Galle district when he got the letter informing him that he was prime minister no more. President Maithripala Sirisena replaced Wickremesinghe with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on October 26, a few days after Wickremesinghe returned from a trip to India. Rajapaksa was at a wedding when Sirisena called him up, asking him to take charge at the earliest. After having had four meetings with Sirisena in the past two months, Rajapaksa was prepared. He readily agreed, while a defiant Wickremesinghe called the move unconstitutional and vowed to put up a fight.

Sirisena said an assassination plot against him—which apparently involved a cabinet minister—and several grave charges against Wickremesinghe forced him to sack the prime minister. In an address to the nation on October 28, Sirisena blamed Wickremesinghe of supporting corruption, planning to give away land to foreigners and of taking decisions without consulting him. “Under these political problems, economic troubles and the strong plot to assassinate me, the only alternative open to me was to invite former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and appoint him as prime minister,” said Sirisena.

The move was not entirely surprising as Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have never been natural allies. They joined hands in 2015 to oust Rajapaksa, who was then a common foe. Sirisena and Rajapaksa were members of the nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), while Wickremesinghe headed the liberal United National Party (UNP). In the 2015 presidential elections, Sirisena formed an alliance with Wickremesinghe, defeated Rajapaksa, and took over the leadership of the SLFP. Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister. The two leaders set up a national unity government, bringing together the SLFP and UNP, two rival political parties whose ideology and governance styles were poles apart.