Mahinda Rajapaksa. | Photo Credit: ANI

New Delhi: Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been sworn-in as the Prime Minister before President Maithripala Sirisena. The decision was taken after the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) today withdrew from the government. Rajapaksa replaces Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The sudden development came after President Sirisena's broader political front United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) announced decided to quit the current unity government with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), PTI reported.

Formed in 2015, the unity government led by Sirisena with Wickremesinghe's support ended a nearly decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

Political pundits have said this move can backfire as it could lead to a constitutional crisis as according to the 19th amendment the Constitution does not allow the sacking of PM without a majority.

Currently, Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority while Wickremesinghe's UNP, on the other hand, has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

Rajapaksa's new party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna registered a thumping victory in local elections held in February which was seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance.

Last week, Sirisena had accused his senior coalition partner the UNP of not taking seriously an alleged conspiracy to assassinate him and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former top defence ministry bureaucrat, and brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry later called this report baseless.

Rajapaksa was sworn in for his first six-year term as president in November 2005 and was re-elected for a second term in January 2010. He, however, was defeated in his bid for a third term in the 2015 presidential election by Maithripala Sirisena.