President requests PM to resign?

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has requested Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign so that he can appoint an interim administration with a new Prime Minister, according to government sources.

The President had made this request at a special Cabinet meeting yesterday evening, sources said.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa is expected to make a statement early next week.

Meanwhile, a top aide to the President, last night, said there was no truth in the rumours being floated that the Cabinet had been dissolved.