• It is meant to run essential activities until an all-party Cabinet is appointed 
• GL not to be reappointed, Ali Sabry to be Foreign Affairs Minister
• Dinesh new Prime Minister

By Kelum Bandara 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe will appoint an interim Cabinet including MP Dinesh Gunawardena as the Prime Minister today for a short period to run the essential services until a fully-fledged one representative of all the parties is worked out later, Daily Mirror learns.

Sources said that while time was short, the previous cabinet of ministers who functioned under Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in today after the Prime Minister takes oaths, in order to restart the stalled work but once Parliament convenes on July 27th, discussions on a national government will take place. Once political parties agree to join a national government, the cabinet will be reshuffled and a new cabinet of ministers will take oaths, sources said. “Right now there are a lot of papers that need to be submitted to cabinet and the ministries have just stopped functioning. So the previous government will take oaths today and restart their work,” senior sources said. Following the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President, his national list seat in Parliament has fallen vacant and discussions are now ongoing within the UNP camp as to who will be appointed to fill the vacant seat. The names shortlisted as of yesterday was Ruwan Wijewardena, Sagala Ratnayaka, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam or Vajira Abeywardena.