India monitoring situation; will continue to provide developmental aid: MEA on Sri Lanka crisis

Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday night replacing him with his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa triggering a constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO: The government on Sunday said that it is closely monitoring the fast-paced developments in neighbouring Sri Lanka and expressed hope that the democratic values and constitutional process will be respected in the tiny Island nation.

''India is closely following recent political developments in Sri Lanka. As a democracy and a close friendly neighbour, we hope that democratic values and constitutional process will be respected,'' the Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.

''We'll continue to extend our developmental assistance to friendly people of Sri Lanka,'' the Foreign Ministry said.

India is closely following recent political developments in Sri Lanka. As a democracy & a close friendly neighbour, we hope that democratic values & constitutional process will be respected. We'll continue to extend our developmental assistance to friendly people of Sri Lanka:MEA — ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2018

 The statement from the MEA came hours after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended the Parliament till November 16 amid the constitutional crisis in the nation.

According to the Colombo Page, the President's Secretariat issued the relevant Extraordinary Gazette notification. 

"The President has prorogued the Parliament with effect from 12 noon on Saturday," said Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

This comes after the now-ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe requested the Speaker to call an emergency Parliament session on Monday so that he could prove his majority in the house.

Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday night replacing him with his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa following the collapse of the governing coalition between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP).

Terming his ouster "unconstitutional", Wickremesinghe asserted that he still holds the Prime Minister`s office and is ready to prove that he retains the majority.

Several Cabinet members had also expressed outrage against this move and called it "illegal and unconstitutional."

In April, the ousted Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe also survived a no-confidence motion in the country`s Parliament that was brought by the supporters of Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksha, who served as Lanka`s President for a period of ten years, from 2005 to 2015 is a fierce political opponent of the current President Sirisena. 

Sirisena had defeated Rajapaksha in the Presidential election of 2015.