Jaishankar meets ex- Lankan Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa, discusses strengthening bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Sri Lanka's former strongman Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday, vember 19. purpose of meeting was to discuss ways to strengn  bilateral relations between two countries. Mahinda Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa was also present during meeting. Mahinda Rajapaksa h sought resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday after his younger bror Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President of Sri Lanka. 

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar also met newly sworn-in President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday, where he invited latter to travel to India on vember 29 on extended invitation of PM Modi.  newly elected President defeated United National Party (UNP) candidate Sajith Premasa by more than 13 lakh votes in recently held presidential elections as per  country's election commission. Jaishankar took to Twitter to confirm development, after meeting, which came hours after President Rajapaksa assumed office on Tuesday.

"President @GotabayaR has accepted PM@narendramodi’s invitation to visit India on 29th vember," he tweeted. 

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On Monday, EAM Jaishankar met  Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, Dr Tandi Dorji in New Delhi where y held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relations of two nations. Dorji h arrived to Delhi on vember 17 on a five-day visit to India. Last week External Affairs Minister h also met up with his Finland counterpart Pekka Haavisto in New Delhi to hold a delegation-level meeting in order to boost bilateral ties between two countries.

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Who is new Lankan President? 

70-year-old Gotabaya Rajapaksa is second member of Rajapaksa family to become president of Sri Lanka. His older bror Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president from 2005 to 2015. Rajapaksa is credited with helping end island nation's long civil war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during his tenure as Defence Secretary. In 2006, he survived an assassination attempt carried out by LTTE with mir injuries.

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