Rajapaksa and 44 former lawmakers of the Sirisena-led centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on Sunday joined Sri Lanka Podujana Peremuna (SLPP), a political party formed in 2016 by Rajapaksa’s younger brother Basil, a former economy minister. An SLPP source said 65 out of 82 former SLFP MPs will eventually join the new party. “We all decided that this is the right time to join the SLPP,” he told Reuters. Sirisena previously defected from the SLFP, then led by Rajapaksa, in 2014 to join an opposition coalition that ousted Rajapaksa. Later Sirisena rejoined the SLFP, took over its leadership and formed a national government with Wickremesinghe’s party.

Source: bd News24 November 11, 2018 15:33 UTC