evidence: Wickremesinghe pursues a multi-aligned approach with the foreign powers, he continues to be pro-West despite his closeness to India in the past two years after the uprising—thanks to India’s interventions in terms of credit lines to advocate economic reforms, Indian investments and security aspect. Wickremesinghe has also got investments from Japan with regard to the light railway, and expanding the international airport in Colombo. "Ranil’s neo-liberal approach might seem beneficial. But it hasn’t liberated the people from the economic crisis. People's desperation is coming from the bottom because of their inability to make ends meet. There were three million people who were below poverty before 2022 and it has increased to seven million people now. It is almost a third of this country's total population," Harsha Desilva, a senior leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which is headed by Sajith Premadasa, told THE WEEK.