Sri Lanka's former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa swears in as the new PM

Former President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa has been sworn in as the Prime Minister before President Maithripala Sirisena.

A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected in the Sri Lankan Parliament in 1970, and has also serviced the nation as a Prime Minister from April 6, 2004, until his Presidential victory in 2005. 

He replaces former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, who held his position from January 9, 2015, until October 26, 2018. As the PM of Sri Lanka, Wickremesinghe has shared a cordial relationship with his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

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During his three-day official visit to India, on October 20, the ex-PM of Sri Lanka visited the Hyderabad House in Delhi. On the same day, Wickremesinghe individually held a meet with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

This purpose of his meeting fruited into talks of bilateral intensification of relations and explored the progress of development projects. Home Minister tweeted about his meeting and shared that they exchanged views on mutual cooperation on issues of terrorism and security.

The previous day, October 19, Wickremesinghe even met several Congress leaders, including President Rahul Gandhi, chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and senior party leader Anand Sharma.

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