Sri Lanka crisis: Ousted PM 'has confidence of parliament'

As telling bbc.com,

The man at the centre of Sri Lanka's political crisis has told the BBC he has the support of parliament and will not leave the grand mansion reserved for the island nation's prime minister.

Last week the president sacked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and his cabinet and suspended parliament, appointing former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new PM.

But Mr Wickremesinghe says the move is illegal and will not leave office.

The crisis has already sparked protests and deadly violence.

The situation is being closely watched by regional rivals India and China, who are vying for influence in Sri Lanka. Washington has called for parliament to be convened as soon as possible.

"I still remain the prime minister and I have the confidence of the majority of members of this house," Mr Wickremesinghe told the BBC from his official residence, Temple Trees, a grand, white, colonial-era bungalow, which has, over time, become a symbol of political power in Sri Lanka.

"The constitution states that the president must appoint as prime minister the person who commands the confidence of parliament and I am the person who has that. We have asked for the summoning of parliament so I can prove my majority in the house," he said.

Mr Wickremesinghe's party has demanded that the house be convened soon and Mr Rajapaksa has suggested this could happen at the start of next week. No date has yet been confirmed.

This is an extraordinary situation for one of Asia's most robust democracies - a country that saw decades of brutal civil war, re-emerged in recent years as a top tourist destination, and which now has two people claiming to run its government.