World / Sri Lankan President revokes emergency Government in crisis pressure on Rajapaksa to resign

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa lifted the state of emergency with immediate effect late Tuesday. Emergency was imposed on April 1 amid growing crisis in the country. In Gazette Notification No. 2274/10 issued late Tuesday, the President said that he has withdrawn the Emergency Rules Ordinance, which gave wide powers to the security forces to prevent any disturbance in the country.

Let us tell you that the pressure on Rajapaksa to resign has increased a lot. His government is in trouble. The ruling coalition's troubles escalated on Tuesday when newly-appointed Finance Minister Ali Sabri resigned, while dozens of MPs also left the ruling coalition.

Nationwide protests continue during the country's worst economic crisis. Sabri was appointed by President Rajapaksa after sacking his brother Basil Rajapaksa. Basil was the main cause of outrage within the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) coalition.

In a letter to the President, Sabri said he had assumed the position as a temporary measure. Sabri wrote in the letter, “However, after much deliberation, taking into account the present situation, I am of the view that Her Majesty will have to make appropriate interim arrangements that require new, proactive and extraordinary measures to deal with this unprecedented crisis.” including appointing a new Finance Minister.

Sabri is among the four ministers appointed by the President on Monday. A day before this, all his cabinet colleagues had resigned.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a group of over 50 MPs who supported the government decided to act as an independent group in Parliament until the government resigns, the Daily News quoted former minister of state Nimal Lanza as saying. and does not delegate the ruling powers to a competent group.

Former minister Vimal Veeravansa also announced that the MPs in the 10-party government would leave the government and remain independent. The four-day session of Parliament began on Tuesday morning, during which the opposition objected to the agenda for the day being carried forward in the absence of the cabinet ministers concerned. It was the first session since President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency last week. Senior opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told the speaker, "We have a problem in continuing the agenda of the day as the subject ministers have not been named."

Another opposition leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Parliament should appoint someone for the post of deputy speaker after Ranjit Siambalapatia resigned after government ally and former President Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party decided to act independent of the ruling coalition. Had given.

Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa urged the government to pay attention to the protesters who, according to him, have faced difficulties in the recent past.

The ruling coalition had won 150 seats in the 2020 general elections and its numbers were further increased after members of the opposition switched sides, although 41 of these MPs withdrew support. The names of these 41 MPs were announced by the leaders of their parties in the Parliament. He has now become an independent member, reducing the number of MPs in Rajapaksa's camp from 113 required for a majority in the 225-member house. The government, however, claimed that it had a simple majority.

Sri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic crisis in history. People have been troubled for months due to long lines for fuel, cooking gas, short supply of essential commodities and hours of power cuts. In the last vote on the government's budget, the ruling coalition got 157 out of 225 votes. SLPP MP Rohit Abegunawardana, however, said that the government is completely strong with the support of 138 MPs.