Sri Lanka's PM Rajapaksa invited Subramanian Swamy to swearing-in, pandemic foiled visit

Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said on Saturday that he received a phone call from the newly elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had invited Swamy to his oath-taking ceremony on Sunday. However, the BJP leader could not visit Colombo due to the ‘travel formalities’ owing to Coronavirus pandemic and said he will go to the neighbouring county sometime in the future.

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Rajapaksa was sworn in as the prime minister for the fourth time on Sunday by his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Rajamaha Viharaya in Kelaniya, an ancient Buddhist shrine that has often been associated with the rise and fall of Sri Lanka.

His party bagged a total of 150 seats with its allies in the 225-member assembly, securing a two-thirds majority in Parliament needed to effect key constitutional changes to consolidate the powerful Rajapaksa clan's control on power. The Rajapaksas want to repeal the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which had curbed the presidential powers.

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Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory

74-year-old Mahinda served as the island nation's president from 2005 to 2015 and is highly popular among the ethnic majority Sinhalese for ending the country's 25-year civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009.

He was first elected Prime Minister in 2004 and appointed again for brief periods in 2018 and 2019. Sri Lanka People's Front, the party led by the Rajapaksa brothers, won 145 seats in the 225-member Parliament in the election last Wednesday. Its main opponent obtained only 54 seats. A party representing ethnic minority Tamils won 10 seats, and 16 others were split amongst 12 small parties.

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The victory gave the Rajapaksa brothers nearly the two-third majority of seats required to make constitutional changes that could strengthen dynastic rule in the country. This time, five members of the Rajapaksa family have been elected as lawmakers; Rajapaksa, his son Namal, the eldest brother Chamal and his son Sashindra, and a nephew, Nipuna Ranawaka.

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