Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, May 9: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced his resignation on Monday, May 9. According to local media, Mahinda Rajapaksa has presented his resignation as Sri Lankan Prime Minister today, amid the country’s greatest economic crisis since independence.
In the crisis-torn country, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation is expected to pave the door for a new cabinet. The resignation comes days after President Gotbaya Rajapaksa asked the Prime Minister’s resignation at a special meeting on Friday as a solution to the country’s ongoing political crisis, according to Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror.
The President is set to call all political parties in Parliament to create an all-party cabinet following Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation, according to the Colombo Gazette.
Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has previously stated that he would not take the job of Prime Minister in an interim government.
Notably, protesters conducted a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s official residence, Temple Trees, on Monday morning, demanding Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa not to quit.
Meanwhile, pro-government organisations attacked protestors outside embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office on Monday, injuring at least 78 people. Sri Lankan authorities declared a statewide curfew and deployed Army forces in the capital.