The swearing in ceremony was held inside the premises of the Presidential Secretariat at 9:30 am. President Sirisena administered the oath of office to 66-year-old Wickremesinghe, who has already served three times as the prime minister.
While Governor Ravi's speeches have put the local BJP supporters on the defensive in matters of religion and social justice, his add-on 'attack on the constitutional scheme' in the 'Senthil Balaji case', has been condemned squarely by many legal experts and editorial writers across the country, thus adding weight to CM Stalin's position -- at least until the courts come up with their binding views, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'India has given assistance that we required, otherwise we would not have been able to survive this far.'
A former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam child soldier-turned-politician was acquitted by a court in Sri Lanka on Wednesday in the 2005 murder case of a senior ethnic Tamil lawmaker at the height of the country's bloody civil war.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to protect and ensure unity and communal harmony and uphold the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution.
'This is a historical moment in the political history of Sri Lanka.' 'You can see the amount of pressure that is coming from the people because nobody addressed the policy blunders, multiple corruption charges and huge scandals.'
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948.
'The fact that he hasn't resigned so far shows that he is going to do everything to hold onto power.'
India said it will continue to extend its developmental assistance to the friendly people of Sri Lanka.
Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai, who's also Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs Lawrence Canon, was on an official visit to Lanka from July 5 to July 7 to visit refugee camps and ensure that Canadian aid is reaching the Tamil refugees there.
'Gotabaya will expect India to observe the red line.' 'He even dispensed with any gesture welcoming India as an interlocutor on the Tamil issue.' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Unofficial results indicate that the SLPP would comfortably win at least 17 out of the 22 districts on offer.
National flags were lowered and people bowed their heads as the silence began at 8:30 am local time, the time the first of the attacks occurred on Sunday.
The Rajiv Gandhi assassination, investigation and trial were all jinxed in parts, recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the state.
This is Modi's first visit to the Maldives as prime minister. The last visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Indian Ocean island nation was by Manmohan Singh in 2011.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India attaches "paramount importance" to strengthening relations with countries in the Indian Ocean region, which is vital for its security and progress.
Disruptions on issues such as Telangana, atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils, sub-quota for minorities, and shortage of fertilisers on Monday marred President Pratibha Patil's Address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
Gota has to decide if he could order elder brother Mahinda's arrest as the agent provocateur of Monday's violence. Then he has to prepare for an interim government, in which no one would now want to become a cabinet minister leave alone prime minister, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Voicing concern over Tamil Nadu fishermen being caught by Sri Lankan navy, the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and state government on petitions filed by Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam members of Parliament for release of those languishing in jails there.
Rajapaksa's move signalled that he would contest the snap polls, to be held on January 5, under his own party banner and not that of Sirisena's SLFP.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday sacked the country's first woman Chief Justice Shirani Bandarnayake after ratifying her impeachment by Parliament which held her guilty of corruption, notwithstanding widespread protests by lawyers and others.
Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive working on Tuesday as Opposition members created pandemonium on a host of issues including JPC report on 2G, Telangana, price rise and death of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) riot victims.
Forty suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers, have been arrested in connection with the attacks which shook Sri Lanka.
India on Monday strongly condemned the "derogatory" article against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa appearing in the Sri Lankan defence ministry website, as the controversy rocked Parliament with an agitated All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam demanding a resolution to denounce it.
From Sri Lanka's most popular political family to its most despised -- going by the voices on the streets calling for the Rajapaksas' ouster -- what went wrong for the clan? Veteran Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy offers an insight.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Members of Parliament on Thursday shouted slogans over Sri Lankan Tamil issue during the maiden address of President Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament.
As the DMK decided to withdraw support, the government on Tuesday moved to bring a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in Parliament in an attempt to placate the key ally which has set it as one of the conditions for reconsideration of its decision.
'For the Tamil Nadu protestors to openly ask popular film actor Vijay Sethupathi not to don Murali in 800 is a travesty in every sense. It may have given them a cause to tell the world, and the governments in New Delhi, Colombo and Chennai, that the Sri Lankan ethnic issue was still alive in the state -- more so, during the current run-up to two major events in the first half of 2021,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prasad said only Parliament has exclusive powers to pass any law with regard to subjects under the seventh schedule and not any assembly. He said the CAA was 'perfectly legal' and 'constitutional'.
Indian claims to the Ram story and ownership could be challenged from more places than one, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
India has said that the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility.
There were concerns in Sri Lanka about the huge trade imbalance.
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Whether it is Sri Lanka, Maldives, or Nepal, quietly but steadily, India has been reclaiming some of the ground it had lost to China, observes Aditi Phadnis.
On a day of high political drama when the ruling coalition of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered serious defections, the election commission on Friday set January 8, 2015 as the date for a snap presidential election.
"We will not tolerate any action that is against India's interest. They (India) have helped us whenever the need arose. They are our close friend," Sri Lankan Port Development Minister Dilan Perera told Parliament. Perera said the campaign by Marxist JVP threatening to boycott Indian goods will not be permitted by the Sri Lankan government.
The 74-year-old leader, who describe himself as "a rebel with a cause", earlier served as the country's president from 2005-2015, becoming South Asia's longest-serving leader. He was also prime minister for a brief period in 2018.
The country has a fiendishly complicated electoral system that is a combination of population-based proportional representation and party-based national lists, says Aditi Phadnis
Amid threat to pull out Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers and quit the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, party chief M Karunanidhi made a fresh demand insisting that Parliament adopt a resolution incorporating the two amendments he had suggested to the government to be moved on the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC.
