'President has NOT asked me to resign' - PM Rajapaksa

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had not asked him to resign.

Addressing a meeting with Local Government members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna on Wednesday (27), the Prime Minister said "Anyone can make an allegation, but those allegations need to be prove. We cannot turn our back on the constitution and leave, by simply allowing the country to go into a state of anarchy."

"The President had never asked me to resign and I do not believe he would ask me to do so," he told the Local Government members.

In an interview with the local DailyMirror Prime Minister Rajapaksa had said there was no split between the President and himself and both were on the "same page" to address the present issues and resolve the ongoing crises as soon as possible. He said if there was a split, they could not function as a government.

"Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the President. So I must always respect him as the President. He may be my younger brother, but that is a different matter. That is a personal relationship. Like everyone else we also argue, even in the cabinet we argue. But our arguments stop there," he said.