Sri Lanka Crisis: Speaker recognises ousted Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM

Colombo, Oct 28: Sri Lankan Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Sudnay, 28 October, recognised Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, three days after he was sacked by the President.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Sunday said Wickremesinghe's request to retain the security and privileges of prime minister was fair until another candidate could prove a majority in parliament, news agency AFP reported.

"I consider the said request to be a democratic and fair request," Jayasuriya said in a letter addressed to President Maithripala Sirisena, who dismissed Wickremesinghe on Friday.

Jayasuriya also warned the president that shutting parliament for nearly three weeks would exacerbate the political crisis gripping the Indian Ocean nation.

The country's President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister and his Cabinet and replaced him with a former strongman - creating what some observers said could be a constitutional crisis in the South Asian island nation.

The president also suspended Parliament on Sunday morning, adding to the growing political crisis in the South Asian island nation.