Sri Lanka opposition rejects unity government offer
The largest opposition political party, the United People’s Force, or SJB, immediately rejected the president's proposal of a unity government, demanding his resignation.
The South Asian island nation is in the grip of unprecedented food and fuel shortages along with record inflation and crippling power cuts.
Sri Lanka's opposition has dismissed the president's invitation to join a unity government as "nonsensical" and instead demanded he resign over the country's worsening shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
"We will not be joining this government," Eran Wickramaratne of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party said on Monday.
"The Rajapaksa family must step down."
Earlier on Monday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had offered to share power with the opposition as protests escalated across the country.
Rajapaksa's appeal came as security forces looked to quell more demonstrations over what the government itself has acknowledged as the worst shortages of essentials since independence from Britain in 1948.
"His offer to reconstitute the cabinet with opposition MPs is nonsensical and infuriates the people who have been demanding his resignation," said Abraham Sumanthiran of the Tamil National Alliance.
READ MORE: Indebted Sri Lanka seeks further $1B credit line from India
The IMF says it will discuss a bailout and India opened a $1B credit line to ease shortages as Sri Lanka struggles to afford crucial imports like gas, food and medicine amid mounting foreign debt.
Unprecedented food and fuel shortages
The president's offer came after 26 cabinet ministers - every member except Rajapaksa and his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa - submitted letters of resignation at a late-night meeting.
The country's central bank governor Ajith Cabraal also joined the long list of resignations on Monday.
The move cleared the way for the country's ruling political clan to seek to shore up its position.
Trading was halted on the country's stock exchange seconds after it opened as shares fell by more than the five percent threshold needed to trigger an automatic stop.
The South Asian island nation is in the grip of unprecedented food and fuel shortages along with record inflation and crippling power cuts, with no sign of an end to the economic woes.
The government has announced it will seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, but talks are yet to begin.
Sri Lanka's economic woes stem from a low tourism revenue triggered by the pandemic and Russia's attack on Ukraine driving up fuel prices and threatening cash influx from key Ukrainian and Russian tourism markets.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.