Rajapaksa was appointed Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Rajapaksa Prime Minister on October 26, triggering a constitutional crisis, banking on buying over corrupt or disgruntled members to build a parliamentary majority.
However even members of his United National Party who opposed the unpopular actions of Wickremesinghe’s so-called ‘cronies’ as well as a section of the parliamentary group which was at the centre of a corruption scandal failed to cross over.