COLOMBO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Twelve new ministers were sworn into Sri Lanka's new cabinet on Monday amidst a political crisis prevailing in the island country.
The President's Media Division said the new ministers were sworn in before President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat in capital Colombo.
Former President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was sworn in as the nation's new Prime Minister by Sirisena last Friday, took oaths as the new Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Sarath Amunugama was sworn in as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and UPFA MP Ranjith Siyambalapitiya as the Minister of Power and Energy.
Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe from the United National Party (UNP) was sworn in as the new Minister of Education, and UNP MP Wasantha Senanayake as the Minister of Tourism.
Eelam People's Democratic Party Leader Douglas Devananda was sworn in as the Minister of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Northern Development and Hindu Religious Affairs. Arumugam Thondaman from Ceylon Workers Congress took the post of the Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development.
The new ministers took oaths amidst calls by other political parties on Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to summon the Parliament immediately in order to resolve the political crisis.
Sri Lanka's crisis erupted after Sirisena sacked his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Friday and appointed former president Rajapakse to the post.
Wickremesinghe said his sacking was illegal and called on the Speaker to summon the Parliament immediately so he could prove his party's majority in the House.
President Sirisena had prorogued the Parliament till Nov. 16.
