Amid massive protests, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has informed Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abywardena that he will hand over his resignation letter on Wednesday as earlier announced.
Making a special statement to the media, the Speaker said that President Rajapaksa has informed him that he will hand over his resignation on Wednesday, the Daily Mirror reported.
The Speaker also said that the President has appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting President on his behalf as he is out of the country.
The Speaker further added that Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the Acting President as per Article 37 (01) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said that the Prime Minister cannot exercise the powers of the President, and cannot declare a curfew or a state of emergency.
Wickremesinghe Wednesday declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country as protests intensified following Rajapaksa’s escape to the Maldives.
A state of emergency was declared as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces deployed outside Wickremesinghe’s residence. Air patrolling also began around the Prime Minister’s residence.
“Prime Minister becomes acting President only if the President appoints him as such, or if the office of President is vacant, or if the CJ in consultation with the Speaker forms the view that the President is unable to act,” Premadasa tweeted.
“In the absence of any of these, the PM cannot exercise the powers of President, and cannot declare curfew or a state of emergency,” he said in another tweet.
Military personnel used tear gas shells to disperse protestors who scaled the wall to enter the Sri Lankan PM’s residence in Colombo.
“We want the PM to resign because as per our constitution if the President resigns, the PM becomes the acting President. People want both of them to leave. Police took action by tear gas shelling. Army troops moved in,” said a former advisor to the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs ministry.
Sri Lankan authorities confirmed that Rajapaksa had flown to the Maldives with his wife and two bodyguards after full approval of the country’s Defence Ministry. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Gotabaya had landed at the Velana International Airport in Male on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane.
The crisis-hit island country’s Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation from Rajapaksa. “We haven’t received President Gotabaya’s resignation yet, but we hope to get one in a day,” Abeywardena told.
73-year-old Rajapaksa had gone into hiding after crowds of protesters stormed his residence on July 9 and he had announced that he will resign on July 13.
The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies and is in the throes of its worst-ever economic crisis with soaring inflation. (ANI)
