Rajapaksa is Lanka’s main Oppn leader

Colombo, December 18 

Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday became Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader in Parliament, days after he resigned as PM 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.

His appointment was announced by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya in Parliament which met for the first time after the reinstatement of Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM.

M A Sumanthiran of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Rauff Hakeem of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress raised objections against Rajapaksa’s appointment.

They claimed that Rajapaksa has ceased to be a Member of Parliament because he had joined another political party recently. — PTI