Monday,
December 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India
|
 |
| M A I
N N E W S |
Ranil sworn in Lanka PM
UNP leader and Prime Minister elect
Ranil Wickremesinghe, left, greets President Chandrika Kumartunga, right, as President's secretary Balapatabedi looks on at the President's house in
Colombo on Sunday. —AP/PTI
|
Colombo, December 9
United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was today sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. President Chandrika Kumaratunga administered the oath of office to Mr Wickremesinghe at a simple function at the heavily guarded President’s House here. It was attended by Mr Wickremesinghe’s family members, his party colleagues Karu Jayasuriya, Gamini Atukorale and Charitha Ratwatte and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauf Hakeem. Mr Kumaratunga told reporters that she was awaiting Mr Wickremesinghe’s proposals on the appointment of other ministers. “I’m waiting for his proposals. I am ready any time,” she said. In a sign that she may not go in for any confrontation with the UNP-controlled Parliament, she said: “Now, I have all the time. I don’t run the government any more, I run only the Presidency”. Immediately after the function, Mr Wickremesinghe offered prayers at a Buddhist temple here. Meanwhile, the presidential secretariat denied a private television channel report that Mr Chandrika had decided to give up the Defence and Finance portfolios. Nothing pertaining to the allocation of portfolios was discussed at yesterday’s meeting between the President and Mr Wickremesinghe, it said.
PTI 
|
