SLPP asks president to help with Rajapaksa’s return

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s ruling party has asked the country’s new president to provide security and other assistance for his predecessor who fled to Southeast Asia last month after protests flared amid a crippling economic crisis, an official said in a Reuters report.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa flew to Singapore last month and quit as Sri Lanka’s president, making way for veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe to win a vote in parliament and take the top job.

Rajapaksa, who has been accused of mishandling the island nation’s economy leading to its worst financial crisis in seven decades, is currently in Thailand for a temporary stay.

Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, said his party had approached Wickremesinghe for help to enable Rajapaksa’s return.

“We requested the president to facilitate and provide the necessary security and facilities for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to the country,” Kariya