Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara met with newly oppointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa a short while ago.

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Joint Opposition members including MP Udaya Gammanpila were also present for the discussion at Rajapaksa‘s residence.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and was sworn in before President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday (26) at the Presidential Secretariat.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was away touring the south of the country, was removed from the Premiership by President Sirisena following months of infighting and was informed of the decision via letter.

But Wickremesinghe later told reporters he remained the prime minister. “I have the majority and I remain as the prime minister and I will function as the prime minister,” he said.

Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Twitter that the appointment of Rajapaksa as prime minister was a violation of the constitution, which was amended in 2015 to curtail the powers of the president.

Earlier the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had said it would quit the ruling coalition, capping months of rising tensions between the president’s bloc and Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).