Colombo: Sri Lankan ministers Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara on Saturday resigned from their portfolios with immediate effect, Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror reported. This was an aftermath of the violent protests that shook the capital on Saturday morning forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee from his official residence.
Rajapaksa is set to resign from his post on Wednesday, July 13 while Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has offered to resign once an all-party government is formed and a political group prove its majority in the parliament. The protesters who demanded the resignation of both the President and the Prime Minister stormed the President's official residence, braving police, and later occupied the Prime Minister's official residence, the Temple Trees.
Sri Lanka’s economy is presently going through a grave crisis. The country is heavily reliant on aid from India and other countries and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund trying to negotiate a bailout package. This has led to severe shortages of essential items including food, fuel and other necessities that led to the protests on Saturday.
