Gotabaya Rajapaksa likely to return to Sri Lanka on Saturday

International

oi-Deepika S

Colombo,
Sep
02:
Almost
two
months
after
fleeing
to
Thailand,
former
president
of
Sri
Lanka
Gotabaya
Rajapaksa
will
return
back
to
the
island
nation
on
Saturday.

Rajapaksa,
73,
fled
the
country
on
July
13
after
months-long
mass
public
demonstrations
demanding
his
immediate
resignation
on
July
9
gained
momentum
after
protesters
stormed
the
President’s
House
in
Colombo
and
several
other
state
buildings
in
the
capital.

Rajapaksa
will
return
back
to
the
country
on
Saturday,
a
source
close
to
him
was
quoted
as
saying
by
the
Daily
Mirror
news
portal.

Having
gone
to
the
Maldives
on
a
Sri
Lanka
Airforce
plane,
the
former
president
proceeded
to
Singapore
from
where
he
sent
in
his
resignation
on
July
13.

Gotabaya
Rajapaksa
applies
for
Green
Card
to
settle
in
US:
Report

Later,
he
flew
to
Thailand,
seeking
temporary
shelter.
Thailand’s
foreign
minister
Don
Pramudwinai
has
said
that
Rajapaksa
can
stay
in
the
country
for
90
days
because
he
is
still
a
diplomatic
passport
holder.

However,
Rajapaksa
will
not
be
allowed
to
engage
in
political
activities
in
Thailand.
He
is
also
reportedly
confined
to
a
hotel
and
surrounded
by
security
personnel.

After
Rajapaksa
was
ousted,
Sri
Lanka’s
parliament
elected
then-Acting
President
and
six-time
former
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
as
the
new
Head
of
State.
He
had
the
backing
of
Sri
Lanka
Podujana
Peramuna
(SLPP),
the
largest
bloc
in
the
225-member
parliament.

Sri
Lanka
is
going
through
its
worst
economic
crisis
since
its
independence
in
1948
which
was
triggered
by
a
severe
paucity
of
foreign
exchange
reserves.