Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) on Tuesday agreed to form an interim government, Sri Lankan news agencies reported. Sri Lanka MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told news agency Newscutter that the decision was taken when a group of independent MPs met SLPP representatives in presence of Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The independent MPs Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila reached a conceptual agreement to form an interim government during discussions with Gotabaya and Basil Rajapaksa, SLPP Sagara Kariyawasam said, according to another Lankan news agency.
Earlier on Sunday, former Sri Lankan President and the chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Maithripala Sirisena called for fresh elections. However, the strength of the government and the ruling alliance will be tested later this week when the new Deputy Speaker will be elected on May 4. According to a separate report by Colombo Page, Dilan Perera, an MP from the ruling party SLPP has been chosen for the post but the Samagi Jana Balawegaya have expressed their disapproval.
Ex-PM and United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the May Day rally said that bringing constitutional amendments will not solve the country’s economic woes. He took a similar stance like Sirisena and said that the old ways of politics have to go, so that the nation can prosper. The opposition has urged the government to follow the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recommendations to steer the nation out of this crisis.
Sri Lankans Suffer As Crisis Deepens
Sri Lankans, however, continue to face problems due to the economic crisis. On Monday, long queues in front of petrol pumps were also seen due to the shortage of fuel and lack of fuel supply. Many petrol pumps were also shut down due to the fuel crisis.
The Ceylon Petroleum Private Bowser Owners Association and Lanka Indian Oil Private Bowser Owners’ Association (LIOPBOA) have stopped fuel transportation as the former is on a strike since Saturday. LIOPBOA is supporting the strike and thus exacerbating the fuel crisis. Sri Lanka’s energy minister Kanchana Wijesekara said that the capacity of the train fuel transportation rose from 40% to 100% to the rural depots as trains were introduced to blunt the effect of the strike.
The largest state-owned retail chain Lanka Sathosa said that it will release a stock of imported rice to all supermarket chains within the next week. Customers will not be able to buy more than 5 kilos of rice.
(with inputs from Newscutter, Colombo Page, Daily Mirror and Newsfirst.lk)
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