{"id":187577,"date":"2018-02-16T18:05:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T12:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=187577"},"modified":"2018-02-17T06:50:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-17T01:20:19","slug":"ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a> said at a media conference held today at Temple Trees that he will continue as Prime Minister in accordance with constitutional provisions.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_167367\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167367\" class=\"size-full wp-image-167367\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Ranil-W-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-167367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This was the first time that Wickremesinghe addressed the media following the electoral debacle suffered by the party he leads, the United National Party (UNP), at the hands of the recently formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).<\/p>\n<p>Wickremesinghe did not allude to rumors about defections from and to the UNP, although it was reported that President Sirisena had asked Nimal Siripala Silva to show majority support in Parliament for the purpose of taking over from Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n<p>Wickremesinghe said that he is waiting for the President to return from Polonnaruwa to meet him regarding the current impasse where Parliamentary composition does not reflect the will of the people, going by results of the local government elections.<\/p>\n<p>Colombo Telegraph learns that there are feverish discussions behind closed doors as both the UNP and SLFP struggle to put together numbers that would make it possible to form a stable government.<\/p>\n<p>Wickremesinghe, obviously referring to the apparent dismay and dissent within the party following the electoral defeat, also stated that the UNP would be restructured to build a new leadership group. This is however not the first time that he has promised to put in place such mechanisms in moments of political uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":150178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-16T12:35:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-17T01:20:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/\",\"name\":\"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-16T12:35:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-17T01:20:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg\",\"width\":639,\"height\":531},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2018-02-16T12:35:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-17T01:20:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":639,"height":531,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/","name":"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-16T12:35:14+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-17T01:20:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg","width":639,"height":531},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-takes-refuge-in-constitution-while-sirisena-camp-struggles-to-oust-him\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ranil Takes Refuge In Constitution While Sirisena Camp Struggles To Oust Him"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ranil-W.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187579,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187577\/revisions\/187579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}