Dinesh Gunawardena will be sworn in as the new Prime Minister
Team News Riveting
The 73-year-old Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Thursday sworn in as Sri Lanka’s eighth president after he won a parliamentary ballot.
The previous cabinet of ministers will be sworn in before President Ranil Wickremesinghe Friday morning. Dinesh Gunawardena will be sworn in as the new Prime Minister. The previous Cabinet will function till a national government is agreed upon once Parliament convenes and then a Cabinet reshuffle will take place.
Sri Lanka’s Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa on Thursday met newly-appointed President Ranil Wickremesinghe and offered his party’s constructive support to his government to avert further misery and disaster in the crisis-hit nation. Premadasa said he had a cordial and frank exchange of ideas and reiterated the Opposition’s determination to provide constructive support to avert misery and disaster.
On Tuesday, Premadasa had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all political parties and the people of India to keep helping the island nation come out of its worst economic crisis irrespective of who becomes Sri Lanka’s next president.
India on Thursday said it has been at the forefront of extending support to Sri Lanka and will continue to do so. The comments by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came the day new Sri Lankan Parliament was sworn-in.
“We will continue to stand by the people of Sri Lanka,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.
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