Colombo, The Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office has rejected speculation that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaka is to resign.
There have been reports that Rajapaksa will step down and that Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will most likely be appointed as the new Prime Minister.
However, the Prime Minister’s Office said that such claims are being made with the intention of misleading the public.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that there is no move by Mahinda Rajapaksa to step down from his post, news reports said.
“There is no truth whatsoever to the stories appearing on both mainstream and social media yesterday (02) and today that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is going to step down,” Prime Minister’s Media Secretary Rohan Weliwita said in a statement on Monday.
“I vehemently reject such fabrications that mislead the public,” he added.
There has been heightened interest in Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s movements of late, following his highly publicised two-day pilgrimage to the temple city of Tirupati in India on December 23.