COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who lost badly in his tussle for power with Ranil Wickremesinghe, is not ready to bury the hatchet with the triumphant Prime Minister, saying they do not see eye to eye on a number of issues, including on the release of LTTE political prisoners.
An embarrassed Sirisena, whose controversial actions plunged the island nation into an unprecedented political turmoil for nearly two months, reinstated Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister on Sunday, after sacking him on October 26 and appointing ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place and also dissolving Parliament, some 20 months early.
Sirisena was left with no other option following two separate decisions by the Supreme Court, which nullified his illegal moves.
Addressing the members of his United National Front, Sirisena, 67, reiterated that he does not like Wickremesinghe, despite having to reappoint him as the Prime Minister, Colombo Gazette reported.
He said that there were several issues between him and Wickremesinghe, 69, since 2015.
He accused Wickremesinghe of abusing his powers as Prime Minister before Wickremesinghe was sacked in October. Sirisena claimed that Wickremesinghe even usurped some powers of the President.
He accused Wickremesinghe of failing to follow his instructions not to arrest monks and members of the military, the report said.
The President insisted that if members of the Sri Lankan military are to be arrested for committing war crimes, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam members and their supporters overseas must also be arrested for the same.
Sirisena also said that if the former LTTE (Tamil Tiger) cadres are to be released on the basis they are political prisoners then the military officers in prison must also be freed.
President Sirisena's prime ministerial appointee Rajapaksa led the military campaign to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 when he was the president of Sri Lanka.
He said he and Wickremesinghe differed on several differences since 2015.
Sirisena said he offered to reappoint Wickremesinghe as the prime minister as he respects parliamentary traditions and democracy.
"A statement I made to say that I would not appoint Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister is a personal view of mine. That is my personal political view, but as a leader who respects Parliamentary traditions and democracy, I decided to invite Wickremesinghe and offered him the premiership, the President said.
President Sirisena claimed that the power to name a Prime Minister is vested with the Executive President according to the Constitution.
"Considering the request of the 117 MPs, they being the majority in Parliament and I being a civilised leader who respects Parliamentary democracy and traditions, I agreed with their decision," he said.
Ex-strongman Rajapaksa resigned from the post on
Saturday, a day after the apex court refused to stay another court order restraining him from acting as the prime minister. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said abolishing the executive Presidency and bringing about a
political solution will be part of the agenda of his new
Government.