Sri Lanka President heckled, forced to leave parliament amid opposition's loud protest

The opposition in the parliament loudly protested the presence of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he appeared in the chamber a day after they had questioned his whereabouts. As opposition lawmakers heckled Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during a speech, the president was seen leaving the room after the opposition hooted against him.

Wickremesinghe said he was prepared to resign if opposition National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake could present a workable six-month recovery plan while outlining a roadmap for a way out of Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis. 

A Sri Lankan parliamentarian named Harsha de Silva posted this video clip on Twitter that shows some opposition holding placards and yelling "Gota Go Home."

The video then shows Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaking to his assistants before standing up and leaving the house. "Ouch! This is how the arrival of #SriLanka President @GotabayaR to @ParliamentLK a few minutes ago ended: #GotaGoHome2022. Unplanned and never happened in the history. He had to get up and leave," Harsha de Silva tweeted.

As the Sri Lankan government is unable to import necessary goods due to a lack of foreign currency, the island nation has had to endure months of escalating inflation and protracted power outages. In an effort to save fuel, the nation has shut down non-essential public services.

SL PM participating in negotiations as a bankrupt country with IMF

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister of Sri Lanka, declared in front of the legislature today that the nation is now bankrupt and that the economic crisis will last through at least the end of next year. He stated that the completion of a debt restructuring plan with creditors by August was a requirement for Sri Lanka's ongoing bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

"We are now participating in the negotiations as a bankrupt country," Wickremesinghe stated, ANI reported.

Before an agreement could be reached on a funding arrangement to address the island country's balance of payments crisis, the IMF stated last week that more work was required to correct the nation's finances and reduce its exploding fiscal deficit. 

There are severe shortages of basic necessities such as food, fuel, cooking gas, and medicines as a result of the crisis, forcing people to wait in long lines to purchase scarce supplies. The government has ordered that all schools be closed and that all employees, except those in critical services, work from home.

Image: AP