Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe rejected a power-sharing offer made by his rival, President  Chandrika Kumaratunga, who sparked a political crisis earlier this month by sacking three ministers and declaring a state of emergency.

Officials in the prime minister's office said Kumaratunga's offer -- which involved sharing responsibilities in the defence ministry - was unworkable, report agencies.

The differences between the two centre around the peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with Kumaratunga believing the government was being too soft in its dealings with the rebel outfit which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by India and the US.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga had offered November 28 to let Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nominate an official with wide-ranging powers to negotiate with the Tigers.

The Tigers had walked out of the Norway brokered peace talks in April, insisting on more autonomy to run the Tamil-majority area in the northeast. Following the political crisis which began November 4,  Norway withdrew from the peace process.

Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran warned November 27 that the political crisis could force the Tigers to restart their war for a separate homeland.

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