Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and leader of Opposition and the Tamil National Alliance R. Sampanthan have sought former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s support for the ongoing constitutional reform efforts in Sri Lanka.

In the first instance of reaching out to the former President, ousted in the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2015, the leaders asked Mr. Rajapaksa, as “a senior and respected leader”, to back the national unity government and other political parties working with it to remake the country’s Constitution, The Hindu says.

The meeting held at the Prime Minister’s office in Parliament last week was reportedly prompted by President Maithripala Sirisena, who is said to be keen that the former President be brought on board while the country embarks on a new Constitution. It was President Sirisena, political sources close to him said, who asked the Prime Minister and the senior Tamil leader to engage Mr. Rajapaksa on the subject.

When contacted, Mr. Sampanthan confirmed that the meeting took place. “Our efforts should continue given Mahinda Rajapaksa’s own efforts to evolve an acceptable constitutional arrangement during his term in office,” he said, referring to reports from an earlier All Party Representative Committee and an experts’ committee that recommended some measures of devolution.