Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday became Sri Lanka's main opposition leader in Parliament, days after he resigned as prime minister after clinging on to power for nearly two months, amidst the unprecedented political turmoil in the country. Rajapaksa, 73, replaced veteran Tamil leader of the main Tamil party R Sampanthan who held the position from 2015. They claimed that Rajapaksa has ceased to be a member of Parliament because he had joined another political party recently. The president said he offered to reappoint Wickremesinghe as the prime minister as he respects parliamentary traditions and democracy. Ex-strongman Rajapaksa resigned from the post of prime minister on Saturday, a day after the apex court refused to stay another court order restraining him from acting as the prime minister.

Source: dna December 18, 2018 10:07 UTC