Colombo: Sri Lankans are demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the debt-ridden country
Highlight
- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa addresses the nation
- ‘Every second you protest on the street, we are losing dollars’, he told the people of Sri Lanka.
- Meanwhile, efforts to set up an all-party interim government were also inconclusive.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed the country amid economic crisis and angry population struggling to feed themselves. Expressing his displeasure over the continued protests by the people of Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa said, “Every second you protest on the street, we are losing dollars.”
Listing the government’s efforts to end the economic crisis, Rajapaksa said, “We ended the war not to put the people of this country in this situation, we built highways to not put people in queues.” “We didn’t waste building ports. Oil ships in our ports until we get dollars to pay for them. We’ll do everything we can to overcome this crisis.”
Rajapaksa also said that no party has come forward to lend a hand in the Sri Lankan Parliament. “Therefore, as the party in power, the government will take all possible steps to resolve the crisis.” They said.
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Meanwhile, efforts to set up an all-party interim government also remained inconclusive as talks between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a group of independent lawmakers from his own ruling SLPP coalition failed to progress on Sunday.
The gathering demanding the resignation of the Rajapaksa family continued the vigil throughout the night.
Last week the entire Sri Lankan cabinet, apart from Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned at a time when the country was facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, hold power in Sri Lanka, despite this politically powerful family being the center of public anger.
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