Sri Lanka Cabinet expanded to 52

Colombo: President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday expanded his Cabinet to a record 52 members to accommodate members from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) disregarding a warning by the party that they were withdrawing their support to cooperate with the government on carrying on with the peace process.

Ten Members of Parliament (MPs) of the 18 defectors from the UNP including the deputy leader of the party, Karu Jayasuriya, were included in the Cabinet.

A day before the swearing in ceremony the UNP chairman Rukman Senanayaka officially conveyed to Rajapakse that they would be pulling out from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which they agreed to support the government's peace process, if defectors were accepted by the government.

The main opposition's cooperation is required to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament to pass a new constitution or bring in amendments aimed at resolving the country's ethnic conflict. Despite accommodating the opposition members and six more members from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress the ruling party has only 111 members in the 225 seat Parliament.

The move to accommodate opposition members came as proposals for a new constitution were being discussed.

Rajapakse retained Defence and Finance portfolios while naming a member of the government's peace delegation which held talks with Tamil rebels as the new foreign minister.

The new foreign minister is Rohitha Bogollagama, a member of the government's team which took part in the peace talks with the Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year.

The other defectors of the UNP appointed to the Cabinet are: P. Dayaratna - Planning Implementation; Dharmadasa Banda - Additional Plantation Crops; M.H. Mohammad - Parliamentary Affairs; Prof G.L. Peiris - Export Promotion and International Trade; Gamini Lokuge - Sports; Bandula Gunawardana - Trade, Marketing Development and Consumer Affairs; Mahinda Wijesekara - Special Projects; Milida Moragoda - Tourism and Dr Rajitha Senaratna - Construction and Engineering Services.

The SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem was named Minister of Postal and Telecommunications.

Former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera who opposed Rajapakse for accepting UNP members and thereby risking the MOU with them was given the portfolios of Airport and Civil Aviation while former President Chandrika Kumaratunga's brother Anura Bandaranaike who held the Tourism portfolio was relegated to the less important National Heritage portfolio.

Rajapakse was elected as President in November 2005, but the ruling People's Alliance government was elected to power in April 2004. Since then the Marxist JVP which formed a coalition to contest elections with the ruling party have also withdrawn their support.

Truce

Rajapakse signed the MOU with opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in October after the JVP indicated that they were pulling out their support to the government.

Wickremesinghe was prime minister when he signed the cease-fire agreement with LTTE in 2002 and was responsible for opening peace talks.