Government briefs all-party meeting on Lankan crisis

New Delhi, July 19

The government briefed an all-party meeting on Tuesday on the unfolding situation in Sri Lanka, which has been facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who made the initial remarks, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were among the senior members of the government at the briefing, which was also attended by P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar and T R Baalu and M M Abdulla of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

M Thambidurai (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) were among those who attended the meeting.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines.

The economic crisis has also sparked a political crisis in the island nation after a popular uprising against the government. Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country.

Political parties from Tamil Nadu such as the DMK and the AIADMK had demanded at an all-party meet before the Parliament’s monsoon session began that India should intervene in the crisis shrouding the neighbouring country.