Colombo:

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday stated he’s in good well being, rejecting “false propaganda” in opposition to him even because the defiant chief asserted that his authorities has the aptitude to elevate the nation out of the continued disaster.

Rejecting stories that his well being was not good and he was being handled in hospital, the 76-year-old elder brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that he has not visited a hospital in latest occasions even to see a affected person.

He stated is in good well being and “false propaganda” is being unfold by “an organised group” on social media in opposition to him, the Daily News Sri Lanka reported.

“The propaganda that the Prime Minister is being treated in a private hospital for an illness is completely false,” the Prime Minister’s Media Division (PMMD) stated.

Meanwhile, expressing his views to an area radio channel, Prime Minister Rajapaksa as soon as once more invited the youth who’re holding protests on the Galle Face Green in Colombo for talks. “If they did not attend, they would have to continue their struggle,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Student demonstrators on Sunday surrounded the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Residence right here, because the anti-government Galle Face protests reached its seventeenth day and the clamour for the President and Prime Minister to resign grew louder.

On the proposal for an Interim Government, the Prime Minister stated even when an Interim Government is established he would nonetheless be the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister questioned how an Interim Government may very well be fashioned within the absence of any co-operation.

Mr Rajapaksa stated he acknowledges that the nation was in a tough place and that the federal government had the energy to elevate the nation out of the disaster. He added that there have been many situations in historical past when the nation confronted extra extreme crises.

Thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets since April 9, as the federal government ran out of cash for very important imports; costs of important commodities have skyrocketed and there are acute shortages in gasoline, medicines and electrical energy provide. The protests appeared to take a extra belligerent activate Sunday, a day after the Prime Minister dismissed requires an interim authorities.

The ruling dispensation had reached out to the Opposition events and protesters for talks, however all efforts had been rebuffed because the agitators stated they need the federal government to resign. A gaggle of over 40 parliamentarians from the ruling coalition have declared independence and have demanded the formation of an interim authorities comprising all political events to sort out the financial disaster.

Sri Lanka wants at the least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting financial woes, and talks with worldwide establishments such because the World Bank in addition to nations like China and Japan for monetary help have been happening.

Sri Lankan officers had been in Washington final week to barter with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

India has agreed to increase a further $500 million credit score line to assist Sri Lanka import gasoline.

India has already agreed to defer $1.5 billion in import funds that Sri Lanka must make to the Asian Clearing Union.

Last week, the Sri Lankan authorities stated it will quickly default on $35.5 billion in overseas debt because the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine made it inconceivable to make funds to abroad collectors.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)