Sri Lanka's Acting President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday asked Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a prime minister who is acceptable to both the government and the Opposition.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe held a meeting with the members of the Cabinet at his office on Monday.
All the ministers who participated in this meeting were of the opinion that as soon as there is an agreement to form an all-party government, they will hand over the responsibilities to that government, it said.
Accordingly, the ruling party and the opposition must form an all-party government.
Wickremesinghe is under pressure to quit before the expected resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is said to be flying from the Maldives to Singapore.
The protesters who stormed Wickremesinghe's office on Wednesday are attempting to enter the Parliament compound at the time of reporting.
The police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters near the official residence of the speaker, police said.
A 26-year-old protester had died of breathing difficulties after being admitted to hospital.
He was part of the group that stormed the prime minister's office this morning where 35 others had also been injured.
The Prime Minister's Media Division said the ruling party and the opposition must form an all-party government.
President Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives from where he appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting President, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests in the country reeling under the worst financial crisis in decades.
Speaker Abeywardena has said that President Rajapaksa has informed him over telephone that he will resign on Wednesday as promised.
He said the vote for the new president will take place on July 20.
President Rajapaksa issued a Gazette Extraordinary, appointing Wickremesinghe as the acting president to exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of the Office of President with effect from July 13, 2022.
Wickremesinghe, who is now Acting President, has declared a state of emergency in the country and a curfew in the Western province has been imposed as protesters gathered near his office at Flower Road in Colombo.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's opposition leaders have asked Wickremesinghe to quit ahead of the resignation of Rajapaksa who had promised to step down on Wednesday, according to a media report.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran said on Wednesday that the decision was taken at an all party meeting which was attended by leaders excluding those from the Government, News 1st channel reported.
He said two unanimous decisions were taken at the meeting, and one was for Wickremesinghe to resign immediately, while the other was for the speaker to sack the prime minister before the President's resignation takes effect, the channel reported.
Meanwhile, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella from the Samagi Jana Balavegaya said the Commanders of the three-armed forces were also present at the meeting.
"The prime minister was avoiding the party leaders," he said.
The Commanders informed that the protesters were near the gates of Parliament, and wanted permission to repel them by using force, he said.
"We said we cannot agree to such a request," he said, adding that at the last party leaders meeting the call was for the President and the Prime Minister to resign.
The leaders have asked the speaker to sack Wickremesinghe to take up the post of Acting President, and thereafter Parliament is prepared to work with him.
