Sri Lanka's LoP Premadasa urges India to support country irrespective of who becomes President

Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 19 (ANI): Sri Lanka's main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa on Tuesday urged India to support the debt-ridden country to overcome the crisis, irrespective of the political developments after the presidential elections scheduled on Wednesday.
Taking to Twitter, Premadasa said, "Irrespective of who becomes the President of Sri Lanka tomorrow, it is my humble and earnest request to Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi, to all the political parties of India and to the people of India to keep helping mother Lanka and its people to come out of this disaster."
Notably, at a time when Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented economic fiasco, the country's finance ministry said that in the four months through April India has emerged as a top lender for the island nation.
India's disbursements of foreign loans and grants from January 1 to April 30, 2022 were 376.9 USD million compared to China which was only 67.9 USD million.
India has come to rescue Sri Lanka which is currently under a severe economic crisis. The island country is facing an acute shortage of foreign currency along with food and fuel crisis.
India also emerged as the first responder under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's neighbourhood first policy when Sri Lanka was left alone by its so-called benefactors for funding support.
Under the 'neighbourhood first policy', India has been highly active to help Sri Lanka during its economic crisis. India has responded with urgency to the government of Sri Lanka's request for assistance in overcoming hardships and will enhance economic linkages between the two countries be it through infrastructure connectivity and renewable energy.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's parliament is scheduled to elect a new president on July 20 following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who flew to Singapore via the Maldives, amid a severe economic crisis in the South Asian country.
Earlier in the day, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidature for President of the island nation and extended his support to Dullas Alahapperuma for the top post.
Premadasa took to Twitter to say that his party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and its alliance and opposition partners will support Alahapperuma, an MP of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), who is in the fray for the upcoming presidential elections. He said that he is heading with this decision as he seeks the "greater good" for Lankans.
Sri Lanka's main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has said that the party's leader Sajith Premadasa will be appointed as the Prime Minister if SLPP MP Dullas Allahaperuma is elected to the post of President.
Dullas Alahapperuma is a senior lawmaker from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and a former journalist. He was a Cabinet minister in the previous Rajapaksa government.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is now the acting president is among those who are in the race for the post of the President to be held on July 20 in which 225 members of the House are eligible to vote and participate in the secret ballot.
SLPP's Allahaperuma and National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are the other two.
The parliamentary referendum to elect the President will be held tomorrow, July 20 (Wednesday), thus the Parliament is adjourned till 10.00 am tomorrow.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had offered his resignation after fleeing the country to Singapore. The president first flew to the Maldives after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official residence in the capital Colombo.
The economy in Sri Lanka is bracing for a sharp contraction due to the unavailability of basic inputs for production, an 80 per cent depreciation of the currency since March 2022, coupled with a lack of foreign reserves and the country's failure to meet its international debt obligations.
Hundreds of Sri Lankans continue to queue up at petrol pumps across the debt-ridden country every day amid fuel shortage, and a large number of people are ditching their cars and motorcycles for bicycles for their daily commute.
The economic crisis which is the worst in Sri Lanka's history has prompted an acute shortage of essential items like fuel. (ANI)