Sri Lanka’s beleaguered Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has repeatedly defied calls to quit, has come under fresh pressure to resign at a special cabinet meeting held before a state of emergency was imposed by his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The meeting was held on Friday as the country witnessed protests against the government over their inability to tackle the economic meltdown.

Gotabaya declared a state of emergency with effect from Friday midnight, the second in just over a month.

“There were opinions during the cabinet, some even suggested the Prime Minister must resign. The President (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) was keen to see an end to the political crisis even with the resignation of the Prime Minister,” a ministerial source said.

The backers of the 76-year-old Prime Minister had insisted him that he stay on as the public demand was more for the resignation of Gotabaya.

The 72-year-old President, for a few weeks now, has been wanting Mahinda to resign in order to set up an all-party interim government.

Although Mahinda said at the meeting that he would readily resign if the successor could resolve the current economic crisis, he did not categorically say he would resign, according to the source.