‘Choose wisely’: Sanath Jayasuriya's appeal to MPs on eve of Prez polls

Taking to Twitter, the former cricketer remarked that the fate of 22 million Sri Lankans rested in the hands of their 225 parliamentarians.

Published on: Jul 19, 2022, 22:38:24 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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On the eve of presidential elections in Sri Lanka, former cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya on Tuesday appealed to 225 people – the members of the island nation's Parliament – to choose wisely, as the country's fate rested in their hands.

“Tomorrow is a vital day. Tomorrow 225 people decide the fate of 22 million. Choose wisely. Buddhusaranai, Godbless, Mashalla!” Jayasuriya wrote on Twitter.

The 53-year-old former allrounder has been a vocal critic of the ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime and is among several former Sri Lanka cricketers who participated in people's protest against the erstwhile dispensation.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who, earlier today, dropped out of the presidential race for the ‘greater good of my country’, appealed to India to keep helping its neighbouring country, irrespective of who becomes the island's ninth President and the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

“It is my humble and earnest request to Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi, to all the political parties of India and to the people of India to keep helping mother Lanka and it’s people to come out of this disaster,” Premadasa tweeted.

Also Read | Sri Lanka crisis: Oppn leader Sajith Premadasa appeals to PM Modi to ‘keep helping regardless of…’

With Premadasa withdrawing his candidature, three candidates will be in the fray for Wednesday's polls: Prime Minister and interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dullas Alahapperuma, and Anura Dissanayake.

Record six-time premier Wickremesinghe took over as interim President last week after Gotabaya Rajapaksa, squarely blamed for Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis – its worst since independence in 1948 – fled to Maldives, and then to Singapore, which is believed to be his current location, though not the final destination.

However, Rajapaksa emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker of the Parliament only after arriving in Singapore.

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