Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and Deputy Minister Palitha Thewarapperuma to refrain from criticising each other through media statements. 

The verbal spat between Fonseka and Thewarapperuma drew wide media coverage over the last few days and both Parliamentarians launched scathing attacks on each other. 

The reason for the dispute was an order by Fonseka, during his tenure as the Wildlife Minister, to withdraw a vehicle given to his former Deputy Minister Thewarapperuma. 

Political sources said the war of words between the two UNP politicians would come to an end with the Prime Minister's intervention.