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Associated Press

Ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday there is credible evidence his replacement is trying to buy support in parliament before an expected vote of confidence when it reconvenes.
Representatives of the new government under former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa have offered lawmakers positions and money in exchange for their support, Wickremesinghe claimed.

“They have been asked to come and meet to discuss the arrangements,” he said.
Rajapaksa was sworn in as prime minister a week ago after President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Wickremesinghe and suspended parliament until November 16.
We don’t have such money to offer anybody
Mahindananda Aluthgamage, UNP lawmaker
Palitha Range Bandara, a lawmaker from Wickremesinghe’s United National Party, told the House speaker on Friday he had been offered millions of dollars and a minister portfolio to join Rajapaksa’s new government.
Mahindananda Aluthgamage, a lawmaker from Rajapaksa’s party, denied the allegations.
“We don’t have such money to offer anybody,” he said.
Kabir Hasheem, the UNP chairman and, until last week, the government’s minister of highways and road development, said other lawmakers described similar offers, but most MPs were not selling out.
On Friday, 119 lawmakers in the 225-member parliament signed a letter urging Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to reconvene the body immediately.
Since Monday, Sirisena has handed out 14 cabinet posts, including five to lawmakers who defected from Wickremesinghe’s coalition.

Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president from 2005 to 2015, is credited by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese ethnic majority with ending a 25-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers, a militant group of Tamils fighting for independence.
Rajapaska lost a re-election bid in 2015 amid accusations of nepotism, corruption and wartime atrocities. Since then, he has been working to reclaim power. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Sri Lanka People’s Front), the party he formed in 2016, swept local elections in 2018 in an embarrassing defeat for the United National Front, a coalition formed with Sirisena in 2015 to defeat Rajapaksa.
‘Anti-democratic coup’: Sri Lanka in turmoil as PM Wickremesinghe is sacked and rival Rajapaksa sworn in
Wickremesinghe’s government was also sharply criticised last year after handing over operations of a port Rajapaksa had developed with Chinese loans to a Chinese company. The ousted prime minister said Friday it was an open-bidding process.

“The Chinese were giving the loans and had been given the first option. And if you’re not satisfied, give it to others. We did that and we found that there was a very good offer by China Merchants. But remember similarly we also had an airport without aeroplanes and again we followed the same procedure,” he said, adding that his government was negotiating with an Indian airport operator.
Japan offers to boost Sri Lanka security as China makes inroads
Kehaliya Rambukwella, a spokesman for the new government, said it would renegotiate the 99-year lease for the port, which Rajapaksa’s supporters deride as an outright sale.
“If Ranil (Wickremesinghe) gets a vote of confidence, the president said that within one hour, he’ll resign, which means he will dissolve the government,” Rambukwell said.


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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s ousted PM Ranil Wickremesinghe accuses rival Mahinda Rajapaksa of bribery

Ousted Sri Lankan leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in his office at the prime minister’s official residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka on November 2, 2018. Photo: AP

Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa gestures as he addresses the staff after assuming duties as finance minister in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet on Friday and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. On Saturday, Sirisena suspended Parliament in an apparent move to give Rajapaksa time to muster enough support to survive any no-confidence vote. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

epa07122942 A handout photo made available by the President's Media Division shows Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena (R) handing over documents to former President Rajapaksa (L) during the swearing in ceremony for Prime minister at the President's Secretariat at Colombo, Sri Lanka, 26 October 2018 (issued 27 October 2018). In an unexpected move on Friday night, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena removed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister and swore-in former President and incumbent Kurunegala District Member of Parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Premier. This has prompted many debates as to the validity or not of such a move, but constitutional and legal experts are of the opinion that it is constitutional. A new cabinet of Ministers is to be sworn in within a few days, according to sources. EPA-EFE/PRESIDENT MEDIA DIVISION / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

epa07131518 Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister and United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe (C) prepares to address supporters and the media, next to his spouse Maitree Wickremasinghe (R), along with parliamentarians and former ministers, during a rally near the Prime Ministerial residence of the 'Temple Trees' in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 30 October 2018. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister after removing Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post on 26 October night. Ousted premier Wickremesinghe claims that constitutionally he still retains the post of Prime Minister refusing to leave the official Prime Ministerial residence of the 'Temple Trees.' Thousands of demonstrators took part in the rally, organized in solidarity with Wickremesinghe, to show what the UNP claimed to be as the 'people's power.' Meanwhile, 12 Ministers, a Deputy Minister and two State Ministers, including five from the UNP have already taken oaths under

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Former leader claims ministers have been offered money and cabinet spots in return for deserting his party before a confidence vote


Ranil Wickremesinghe claims ministers have been offered money and cabinet spots in return for deserting his party before a confidence vote.


China-Sri Lanka relations