• Officials say the Prime Minister in his discussions with SLPP party members and independent and religious groups had not discussed his resignation

By Jamila Husain

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has not informed any groups that he will resign from the premiership as he still holds the majority seats in Parliament, senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office told Daily Mirror a short while ago. 

Officials said that the Prime Minister in his discussions with SLPP party members and independent and religious groups had not discussed his resignation as he still had over 100 seats in Parliament, and any other claims are false, the Prime Minister’s Office said.  

Senior officials from Rajapaksa’s office were responding to claims made by Udaya Gammanpila who informed the media today morning that 120 MPs were now supporting the No Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister himself had informed certain groups including Buddhist monks and party leaders that he was ready to step down.  

Gammanpila said some group who was using powers of the Prime Minister unduly was preventing him from stepping down and if they continued to do so, he would reveal the names of those persons.  Senior officials from the Prime Minister’s office however said these claims were false and this was allegedly an attempt by Gammanpila to mislead the opposition parliamentarians.