Ranil Wickremesinghe likely to take oath as Sri Lanka's PM on Sunday
Colombo, Dec 15: Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to take oath as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister on Sunday after disputed Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa will resign on Saturday, signalling an end to the nearly two-month power tussle in the island nation.
President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly agreed to reinstate ousted Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in the post after a discussion with him over the phone on Friday, Colombo Page reported.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) said that it was decided during the discussion that he will take oath as the Prime Minister at 10 am on Sunday.
The President removed Wickremesinghe from the post of Prime Minister on October 26 and appointed former president Rajapaksa as the Premier, plunging the country into an unprecedented crisis.
Wickremesinghe refused to accept the sacking and challenged it in a court and in the Parliament.
The daily reported that a new Cabinet will be sworn in on Monday. The Cabinet will consist of 30 members and include six Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians, it said.
Rajapaksa's son on Friday announced that the former strongman will resign on Saturday, after two crucial Supreme Court decisions made the embattled leader's efforts to cling to premiership untenable.
The apex court on Friday refused to stay a court order restraining Rajapaksa, 73, from holding the office of Prime Minister until it fully heard the case next month.
"To ensure stability of the nation, Former President @PresRajapaksa has decided to resign from the Premiership tomorrow after an address to the nation," Rajapaksa's son Namal tweeted.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) with former president, SLFP and others will "now work to form a broader political coalition with President Sirisena", Namal, a lawmaker, added.
The apex court's Friday ruling came a day after it unanimously declared that the dissolution of Parliament by President Sirisena was "illegal".
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
