Colombo: Former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, an influential brother of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on Thursday resigned from Parliament, marking another breach in the Rajapaksa clan which until recently held a tight grip over the island nation.
Parliament sources told the Daily Mirror that Basil Rajapaksa met Parliament Secretary Dammika Dassanayake in the morning and handed over his resignation.
Basil Rajapaksa, a veteran of the President’s ruling SLPP party, was for long considered the “political manager” behind the Rajapaksa family.
Basil Rajapaksa’s resignation came a month after another brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, quit amid violence in the island nation.
Ever since Sri Lanka was gripped by its worst ever economic crisis triggering widespread shortages of fuel, food and medicines, anti-government protesters have been demanding the resignation of the Rajapaksa family from the government and banishment from politics.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared he won’t resign but made it clear that he will never contest elections again.
After his resignation, Basil Rajapaksa said that he was against the Presidential powers being pruned to be vested with a Prime Minister not elected by the people.
Meanwhile, Basil Rajapaksa’s wife Pushpa left Colombo on Thursday for the United States via Dubai, the daily quoted airport sources. (UNI)
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