The Hindu : Front Page : Rajapakse is new Sri Lankan PM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004

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Front Page

Rajapakse is new Sri Lankan PM

By V. S. Sambandan

Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, waves to supporters after taking oath in Colombo on Tuesday. — AP

COLOMBO, APRIL 6. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, today appointed the former Leader of Opposition, Mahinda Rajapakse, as the island-nation's new Prime Minister.

A lawyer by profession and senior vice-president of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Mr. Rajapakse (58), took the oath of office before Ms. Kumaratunga at an official ceremony in the Presidential Secretariat this morning. According to Presidential Secretariat sources, the Cabinet would be named "in a few days."

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu after he assumed office as the 18th Prime Minister, Mr. Rajapakse called for greater Indian involvement in the island's peace process and was confident that the minority government formed by the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) would be not be defeated in the 225-member Parliament.

The UPFA — a combine of the SLFP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) — won 105 seats in the April 2 snap Parliamentary polla and emerged the single largest party, but fell eight seats short of the required majority to form a Government of its own.

Confident of securing a majority vote in Parliament, Mr. Rajapakse disagreed with the former Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe's observation on Monday that the UPFA Government would be "unstable." The UPFA, he said, had "discussions with various political parties." The nine-MP Jathika Hela Urumaya, comprising Buddhist monks, had "accepted that that they will not allow the Government to be toppled."

On the differences between the two main constituents of the UPFA — the SLFP and the JVP — Mr. Rajapakse said: "I don't think we will have any other problem," as a pre-poll agreement reached by the two parties "will be implemented."

Mr. Rajapakse, a second-generation leader of the SLFP, entered politics in 1968, was first elected to Parliament in 1970 and handled Ministerial portfolios of Labour, Fisheries, Ports and Shipping in Ms. Kumaratunga's Governments between 1994 and 2001. Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, which vests executive powers in the President, the Prime Minister is not as powerful as his Indian counterpart. Moreover, as Mr. Rajapakse is a veteran loyalist of the SLFP, headed by Ms. Kumaratunga, the bitter cohabitation government between the President and Mr. Wickremesinghe, the leader of the rival United National Party (UNP), has now ended.

Confident that a solution would be found to the decades-long separatist crisis by the present Government, Mr. Rajapakse described the President, Ms. Kumaratunga, as "the best person" to handle the peace process and said "she will manage" the differences between the two main UPFA constituents, the SLFP and the JVP, "with her experience." Ms. Kumaratunga "will personally handle the peace process and the Cabinet will support her," Mr. Rajapakse said, adding: "I have confidence in the President's handling of the peace process and it will bring results."

The new Government, Mr. Rajapakse said, would "learn from the mistakes" of the UNP administration in handling the peace process. "The first mistake is that they did not even consult the President. This time we must get all parties involved in the peace process."

'More Indian involvement'

Calling for greater Indian involvement "in every way that they can diplomatically," Mr. Rajapakse said: "India has always been interested in Sri Lankan affairs. I think it is high time they get more involved in achieving peace in Sri Lanka."

In addition to existing trade ties, the new Prime Minister sought Indian assistance in agriculture, industries, highways and roads and infrastructure. Mr. Rajapakse said he had "cordial discussions'' with the Indian High Commissioner, Nirupam Sen, who called on him this afternoon "on how to strengthen friendship between the two countries."

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