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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
COLOMBO: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan Prime Minister and leader of UNP assumed the chair of the acting president as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country in the early morning amid the turmoil.
A nationwide curfew has been imposed till 5 am on Thursday.
Right after assuming the chair, Wickremesinghe instructed the Lankan security forces to protect the Parliament from the agitators.
He also ordered Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a Prime Minister.
Wickremesinghe was expected to resign from his Prime Ministerial post following massive civilian unrest that saw demonstrators set his house ablaze.
In visuals, on the internet, it was seen that the fuming agitators took the street and stormed the Prime Minister’s office in Colombo on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Church of Ceylon said, “We seem to be having a President in exile, an acting President on the ground and a Prime Minister under siege. The Parliament appears to be in total disarray, unable to reach consensus on how to navigate the present crisis.”
On the other hand, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was supposed to submit his resignation to the Sri Lankan parliament. He left in a military aircraft for the Maldives from where he moved to Singapore. He said that he would resign in a day.
The Sri Lankan parliament will elect a President on July 20. The main opposition party SJB has proposed the name of Sajith Premadasa for the presidential post but it will require more than 113 MPs’ support to elect Premadasa as the President.
Speaking to The New Indian, a resident of Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka said, “After the Rajapaksas, there was no one to challenge Wickremesinghe now.”
