Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe believes ‘not right time’ for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return

0


PTI

Colombo, August 1

It is not the right time for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to Sri Lanka as his presence here could inflame political tensions in the country which is grappling with the worst economic crisis in history, his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe has said.

Wickremesinghe was elected as the President through a parliamentary vote on July 20 after then-President Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and then to Singapore when anti-government protesters stormed the President’s House.

The six-time former prime minister, who was appointed the acting President after Gotabaya fled the country, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the former president’s return in the current situation could inflame political tensions among tens of thousands of protesters who blame the erstwhile powerful Rajapaksa family for the current economic crisis.

Sri Lanka’s cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena recently said that Rajapaksa, 73, was not in hiding and was expected to return soon.

Wickremesinghe, who remained in contact with Rajapaksa to deal with administrative handover issues and other government business, said the former president had not indicated about his planned return to Sri Lanka soon.

“I don’t believe it’s the time for him to return,” 73-year-old Wickremesinghe said, adding that the leader had not “indicated” his return any time soon.

The new president said Sri Lanka had experienced the worst of its economic crisis and that restoring political stability would allow it to begin turning a corner, starting with finalising negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout that had stalled due to the recent turmoil.

“I think we’ve already hit the bottom,” Wickremesinghe said adding “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s how fast we can get to it.”      The president acknowledged that it would take months for Sri Lankans, who have been facing acute shortage of foreign currency leading to runaway inflation and long queues for essential items such as food, fuel, cooking gas and medicines, to see their economic circumstances improve markedly. 

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest World News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Rapidtelecast.com is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
Leave a comment