Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has expanded his cabinet adding five new ministers to his team. The number of cabinet ministers have thus gone up to 67, the government information department announced here on Monday.
President Rajapaksa shuffled the subjects handled by five of his senior ministers while creating two new positions of project ministers.
Among the five deputy ministers elevated to cabinet ranks was Duminda Dissanayake, the son-in-law of Prime Minister D M Jayaratne. There was no change to the prime ministerial position despite speculation. Jayaratne returned only last month from US having undergone medical treatment. Rajapaksa has spared the ministers of Education, Higher Education and Trade where the three incumbents came under increasing focus in the recent times due to public criticism.
Significantly, Rajapaksa has appointed three deputy ministers to the Ministry of Economic Development handled by his younger brother Basil Rajapaksa.
The Presidential officials gave no reasons for the reshuffle which came after the government pursued the impeachment against chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake. The reshuffle had preceded the anticipated key Sri Lanka resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March and the island’s host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in November this year. (PTI)
