Colombo: Sri Lanka's ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been given special security and a state bungalow on his return here from Thailand where he fled amid months-long mass protests over the country's worst economic crisis, officials said on Saturday.
Rajapaksa, 73, was accorded a warm welcome as he returned to Colombo from Thailand amid tight security on late Friday. He was festooned with flowers by a welcoming party of ministers and politicians as he disembarked at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport from Bangkok via Singapore.
The former president wanted to move into his private residence at Mirihana in Colombo's eastern suburb of Nugegoda. However, security considerations prevented him from going to his private residence where he always lived even after becoming the president in 2019, officials said.
After being welcomed by lawmakers of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, Rajapaksa left the airport in a motorcade heavily guarded by armed soldiers and was driven to the posh Colombo residential area of Cinnamon Gardens where a state-maintained bungalow was provided to him, they said.
Rajapaksa will be living in a state bungalow close to the Wijerama Mawatha area in Colombo while a large security contingency will be deployed to maintain security in the area, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
Rajapaksa is to be accorded entitlements provided to a former president, News Frist portal quoted Sri Lankan President's Secretary Saman Ekanayake as saying.