Get the current version from version.py as a string.

def load_version_as_string():
    """Get the current version from version.py as a string."""
    with open(VERSION_PATH, 'r') as rfile:
        contents = rfile.read().strip()

    _, version = contents.split('=')
    version = version.strip()

    # Remove quotes
    return version.strip('"\'')