Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns after landing in Singapore

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned on Thursday evening after landing in Singapore. Parliament Speaker also confirmed he has received Rajapaksa's resignation letter. Meanwhile, people in the Colombo burst firecrackers in celebration on hearing he has resigned, reported NDTV.

Earlier today, Rajapaksa was allowed to enter Singapore on a "private visit", a day after he fled the country to the Maldives without resigning as promised in the face of public revolt against his government's mishandling of the economy.

A Saudi airlines flight - SV 788 - carrying Rajapaksa landed at the Singapore Changi International Airport shortly after 7 pm (local time).

A spokesperson for Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Rajapaksa has been "allowed entry into Singapore on a private visit".

He has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum, the spokesperson said, adding Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum.

The 73-year-old, who had promised to resign on Wednesday, had instead appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Acting President hours after he fled to the Maldives, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests in the island nation.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

(With PTI inputs)

Published on: Thursday, July 14, 2022, 07:53 PM IST