Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and ousted Prime Minster Ranil Wickremesinghe have met in the Parliament complex, this morning. 

The meeting took place after President Maithripala Siisena promised Speaker Karu Jayasuriya last evening that he would talk party leaders of the UNF and the TNA on the possibility of forming a new government. 

The matters that were discussed during the meeting remained a secret, UNP sources said.

The Parliament, in two votes that took place yesterday and today, adopted motions to cut off all budgetary allocations to the Prime Minister's Off and all Cabinet, state and deputy ministers of the purported government. 

The results of the two votes made it clear that the former President did not command the support of a parliamentary majority.