Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe Meets PM Modi

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday, October 20 met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House in Delhi, as part of the engagements of his three-day official visit to India. Earlier on October 20, Wickremesinghe separately met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the two leaders discussed strengthening bilateral relations and reviewed progress on development projects.

"Continuing commitment to deepen our partnership with a close friend. EAM @SushmaSwaraj called on Sri Lanka PM Ranil Wickremesinghe @RW_UNP. Exchanged views on strengthening bilateral relations and reviewed progress on development projects," Kumar wrote on his Twitter handle.

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Rajnath termed his meeting with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister as fruitful and said that he exchanged views on bilateral cooperation between the two countries on security and terrorism.

"Had a fruitful meeting with the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe in New Delhi today. We had deliberations on further strengthening cooperation between India and Sri Lanka on issues pertaining to security and terrorism in the region," the Home Minister tweeted.

On Friday, October 19 Wickremesinghe met with several Congress leaders, including party president Rahul Gandhi, chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and senior party leader Anand Sharma.

The visit of the Sri Lankan leader came close on the heels of a media report that Maithripala Sirisena, the President of the island nation, accused India of hatching a plot to assassinate him. However, Sirisena himself categorically rejected the report on Wednesday and hours later had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi.

READ: Sri Lanka Government Refutes Report Of President Sirisena Blaming India’s RAW For Conspiring His Assassination Plot

"He (President Sirisena) mentioned that the mischievous and mala fide reports were utterly baseless and false, and seemed intended to create misunderstanding between the two leaders as well as damage the cordial relations between the two friendly neighbours," read a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also dubbed the reports as "baseless and false" while highlighting the strong relationship between New Delhi and Colombo.