Colombo, Oct 28 (IANS): Amid a political crisis, Sri Lanka's Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Sunday requested President Maithripala Sirisena to ensure that ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's privileges were protected.

In a letter to the President, Jayasuriya said: "I consider it my foremost duty to protect the rights and privileges of all MPs, especially in the context of the serious political or constitutional crisis which has arisen in the country.

"I have received a request to protect the rights and privileges of Ranil Wickremesinghe until any other person emerges from within Parliament as having secured the confidence of Parliament," the Colombo Page quoted him as saying.

The letter comes after Sirisena on Friday night appointed his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister after ousting Wickremesinghe from the post.

The President, in a letter sent to Wickremesinghe, said he had been removed after the Sirisena-led United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) quit the national coalition government.

Sirisena on Saturday suspended Parliament till November 16.