Sri Lankan Opposition leader claims Parliament Speaker said Prez Gotabaya ready to step down

Sajith Premadasa, the Leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka, claimed on Wednesday that Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene had informed him that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign if all political parties request him , according to media sources.

Over the last few weeks, there have been increasing calls for President Rajapaksa's resignation due to his government's mishandling of Sri Lanka's mounting economic crisis.

However, Speaker Abeywardene denied informing party leaders that the President was ready to step down,  according to the Daily Mirror newspaper reports.

"There is a report circulating on social media that I have informed party leaders of the President's willingness to resign if they (party leaders) make a request. I only said the President is ready to handover the government to anyone who commands majority," the Speaker clarified in Parliament.

Leader of Opposition Premadasa reiterated that Speaker Abeywardena had said this at a party leaders’ meeting.

“You said to the party leaders that all party leaders of his House go and ask him to step down, he is ready for it. We’re ready to do that. You give us the opportunity. All of us in the Opposition are ready to unanimously make that statement. "I am not a fool to distort what you said. Don't deny your statement. You are a Tom Pachaya (blatant lier)," Premadasa said.

The Speaker said it was Premadasa who was coming up with “Tom pacha (blatant lie)”.Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella also confirmed that the Speaker did not say.

A unanimous call from party leaders would have to include the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led by President Rajapaksa’s elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Political analysts say it is unlikely that the SLPP will back such a call.

Sri Lanka, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, is experiencing unparalleled economic turbulence, the worst since the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.

The problem is exacerbated by a lack of foreign currency, which has left the government unable to pay for essential food and fuel imports, resulting in severe shortages and exorbitant pricing.

Large-scale protests are taking place across the island nation over the government's management of the country's debt-ridden economy, which is experiencing its worst-ever economic crisis.

As shortages persist and prices rise, protests calling for the President and his Sri Lanka Podujana (Peramuna)-led government to quit have grown louder.

Last week, the Sri Lankan government said it would temporarily default on USD 35.5 billion in foreign debt as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine made it impossible to make payments to overseas creditors.