Sri Lankan political crises: Speaker urges President to resume Parliament

The Speaker said legislators from the United National Party, Tamil National Alliance, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress had made requests to convene Parliament.

Sri Lanka's Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya on Tuesday urged President Maithripala Sirisena to convene Parliament immediately to resolve the political crisis in the country.

Jayasuriya, in a formal letter sent to the President, informed Sirisena that he had received a letter with the signature of 125 legislators urging him to convene Parliament in order to hand over the government to the party which had the majority support, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Speaker said legislators from the United National Party, Tamil National Alliance, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress had made requests to convene Parliament.

Amid a political crisis in the island country, political party leaders held a meeting with Speaker Jayasuriya in the Parliamentary Complex earlier in the day, voicing their concerns.

A government official said the Speaker had informed them that he would meet Sirisena later in the day and request him to convene Parliament on Friday.

On Friday, Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the post.

Sirisena later prorogued Parliament till November 16.

(With inputs from agencies.)