Coup Backfires

The Sri Lankan presidents plan to oust her archrival prime minister through a constitutional maneuver may have backfired and caused new rifts within her ranks, politicians and analysts say.
A member of Kumaratungas coalition Peoples Alliance (PA) said she had failed to muster defections from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes party to ldblquote push through a parliamentary coup dblquote and seize total control of the government.







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rnldblquote A parliamentary coup was contemplated but it has not happened because she failed to engineer defections someone had promised her, dblquote said Batty Weerakoon, the leader of the LSSP, or Equal Society Party, which is a member of the PA.rn

rnldblquote She has had to retreat from the strong positions she took, dblquote Weerakoon said referring to the withdrawal of a state of emergency which the presidents office said was invoked shortly after the sacking of three ministers and shutting Parliament for two weeks on Tuesday. rn

rnPolitical analysts noted t