Sri Lankan Pres appoints non-Cabinet, state, deputy ministers

Three non-Cabinet, 17 state and seven deputy ministers have been sworn in, it was announced here on Saturday.

According to the the President's Media Division (PMD), Harsha De Silva was sworn in as the non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reform and Public Distribution, Sujeewa Senasinghe as the non-Cabinet Minister of Science, Technology and Research and Ajith Perera as the non-Cabinet minister of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology.

Key state ministers included Eran Wickramaratne as the state Minister of Finance and Ranjith Aluwihare as the state Minister of Tourism Development, Xinhua news agency reported.

The new appointments were made a day after President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a new 30-member Cabinet, including himself as the head of the Cabinet.

The appointment of the new Cabinet was expected to end a two-month long political crisis in the country.

Sri Lanka plunged into a political turmoil on October 26 when Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. 

Wickremesinghe was reinstated as Prime Minister last Sunday. - IANS