‘I’m not leaving’: Sri Lanka’s ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe digs in at Temple Trees as political crisis deepens
- Ranil Wickremesinghe is using his once-official residence as a bastion of resistance after his shock dismissal last Friday by President Maithripala Sirisena
With its graceful lawns, whitewashed colonnades and babbling fish pond, the colonial-era mansion known as Temple Trees doesn’t seem like a bastion of political resistance.
But as the official residence of the Sri Lankan prime minister, the compound has become a focal point in a messy, week-old crisis that has two men claiming the title and an uneasy island nation fearing a breakdown of democratic rule.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was abruptly fired as prime minister Friday, refuses to vacate the compound. He argues that Sri Lanka’s president violated the constitution by replacing him with the country’s polarising former strongman, Mahinda Rajapaksa – and then suspended Parliament to block a vote that could have overturned the decision.
Facing protests and international pressure, the country’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, was reportedly considering reconvening Parliament before November 16, when lawmakers were to resume their duties. Wickremesinghe – who survived a no-confidence vote in April – says he still has the support of a majority of the assembly, which would allow him to retain his post.
But Rajapaksa, working out of a separate mansion housing the prime ministerial offices, has begun appointing Cabinet ministers and working feverishly to bring lawmakers to his side.
