Sri Lanka's justice minister, Wijeyedasa Rajapakse said on Sunday the government would not take any action on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which was signed by 112 MPs and handed to parliament secretary general, Dammika Dassanayaka on Saturday.

“Opposition’s motion would not be taken up for Parliamentary debate, since the UNP based government was authorised to decide whether to take action on it or not,” he said according to the Daily Mirror.

“Even a grade two child is able to guess the result if the motion is taken up in Parliament, where the Opposition has the majority,” Mr. Rajapaksa said.

“The government has acknowledged that 20th Amendment to the Constitution would not get passed if the disruptive behaviour of some Parliamentarians, who are joined with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political campaign continues,” he said.

Ranil meanwhile defended himself against the accusations he had become prime minister "through the back door", saying he had a clear mandate.

"These MPs are trying to form a government without a mandate and they don't have the right to do so as the people gave me the mandate to become Prime Minister on January 9," he said.

"There are some MPs who are playing about using the oxygen supplied by President Maithripala Sirisena, and I request Mr. Sirisena to cut this supply of oxygen,” he said.

Mr Wickremesinghe also stressed the need for a new parliament which would "effectively resolve all the issues faced by the people", adding that he would be able to return to power with the support of the southern voters.

"We will emerge strong after the general elections and fulfil the aspirations of the people," he said.