Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country and fled to the Maldives in a military plane. The President was accompanied by his wife and two security officials. It may be mentioned that he was to resign today.
73-year-old Rajapaksa from Maldives has made Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting President. Speaker of parliament Mahinda Yapa Abewardana has confirmed the assignment of responsibility by Rajapaksa to Wickremesinghe.
The new President is scheduled to be elected on July 20. Meanwhile acting President Wickremesinghe has again imposed emergency in the country. Curfew has been imposed in the western part of the country. Wickremesinghe said in a TV broadcast, “We have to put an end to this fascist threat to democracy.
Curfew has been imposed in the western part of the country. We cannot allow them to tear the Constitution. Some mainstream leaders are also supporting extremists. So an emergency is being imposed. However the anti-government protests have intensified after the imposition of emergency.
Meanwhile, former president Maithripala Sirisena has said that the acting president has no people’s mandate and is just power hungry.