He was speaking yesterday (28) at a media briefing with party representatives backing the common candidate.

Senaratne said that the SIS chief must have been sacked as he was not aware that the SLFP General Secretary would be coming forward as common candidate untill it happened.

Also, the nearest reason for this is handing over a SIS report to the Rajapaksas which stated that Maithripala Sirisena has secured 59% of the country's mandate.

However, upon inquiring on this regard, the police media spokesman told 'Sri Lanka Mirror' that the SIS chief has not been removed from his post.