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Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Lanka PM Colombo: Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a former premier of Sri Lanka, was sworn in today as the new Lanka Prime Minister by President Mahinda Rajapakse. President Rajpakse, who took over on Saturday following victory in the elections, dropped previous plans to give the premiership to foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike, the brother of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, and appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake as the new premier of Lanka. However, the Wickremanayake cabinet would be named either on Monday night or Tuesday, a Lankan government spokesman said. There were two front-runners for the ceremonial post of Lankan prime minister, former public security minister Ratnasiri Wickmanayake and former posts minister DM Jayaratne. Wickremanayake is seen as a hawk who advocates a tough line against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The expectation is that there would a less hawkish policy towards the LTTE and the peace negotiations are likely to continue. However, much would depend on the LTTE which had called for a boycott of the elections. |
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