Sri Lankan Crisis: Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, “I have served my motherland to the best of my ability and will continue to do so in the future.” Parliament session on Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s parliament held a brief meeting to announce the presidency following the resignation of Rajapaksa, who fled the country on Wednesday after a popular revolt against him over his handling of the country’s economic crisis.
The resignation letter sent by Rajapaksa to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardana from Singapore was read during a special 13-minute session. Secretary of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake read out the letter in the House.
In his resignation letter, 73-year-old Rajapaksa blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown for Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
Rajapaksa said that he took excellent steps like trying to form an all-party government to counter the economic slowdown.
“I have served my motherland to the best of my ability and will continue to do so in future,” he said in the letter.
He said that within three months of his becoming the President, the whole world was hit by the Kovid-19 epidemic.
“I took action to protect people from the pandemic, despite being constrained by the already poor economic environment at that time,” he said.
Rajapaksa said, “During 2020 and 2021, I was forced to order a lockdown and the foreign exchange situation worsened. In my view, I did the best I could by suggesting an all-party or national government to deal with the situation.” “
“As you have conveyed the wishes of the party leaders on July 9, I have decided to resign,” he said in the letter. “I resign with effect from July 14,” the letter reads.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday and then landed in Singapore on Thursday, when he was allowed to enter the country on a “private visit”.
Singapore’s foreign ministry said Rajapaksa has neither sought asylum nor has been granted any asylum.