Sri Lanka Crisis: Prez Rajapaksa Refuses To Resign, India Sends Financial Aid & Petroleum | Key Updates
On Wednesday, his government's chief whip Johnston Fernando told parliament that Rajapaksa will not step down “under any circumstances.”
New Delhi: Amid the intensifying economic crisis in Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has reportedly denied stepping down from his position saying that he will rather fight the situation.
On Wednesday, his government's chief whip Johnston Fernando told Parliament that Rajapaksa will not step down "under any circumstances". His statement came amid the demands of Rajapaksa’s resignation due to the deepening economic crisis.
"The President has a mandate of 6.9 million people. As a government, we want to say clearly that the President will not resign," Minister Fernando was quoted as saying by the news agency IANS adding that "We will fight this."
The people of the island nation have been protesting for the last two weeks as the country faces an acute shortage of food, fuel, water, and medicines among other necessary items. Sri Lankan people have been facing long power cuts as well. The situation led to an emergency being imposed in the country last week. It was lifted late Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, India has decided to send help in the form of 40,000 tonnes of rice and a $1 billion line of credit to the country as a part of financial assistance added to a $500 billion line of credit send in February 2022 to buy petroleum products.
Post Rajapaksa’s assertion of not quitting the Parliament, India said that 36,000 MT petrol and 40,000 MT diesel has been sent to Sri Lanka in the past 24 hours.
According to Indian High Commission in Colombo, the total supply of various types of fuel under Indian assistance to Sri Lanka now stands at more than 270,000 MT.
One consignment each of 36,000 MT petrol and 40,000 MT diesel was delivered to Sri Lanka in the last 24 hours. The total supply of various types of fuel under Indian assistance now stands at more than 270,000 MT: High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka pic.twitter.com/ut3DGf18Dz
— ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2022
During his recently concluded visit to Sri Lanka, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar had also assured India’s support to Sri Lanka.
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