As President Anura Dissanayake of Sri Lanka consolidated his position with a thumping majority for his leftist coalition in Parliament, India welcomed the development while reaffirming its commitment to working with the island neighbour for mutual benefit.
The Indian government reiterated its invitation for the president to visit India at an early date as Indian high commissioner Santosh Jha called on Dissanayake shortly after the outcome of the snap polls became clear. Jha was the first foreign dignitary to meet Dissanayake also after the latter was elected president in September this year.
With 159 seats and 61 percent of the votes, the coalition, National People’s Power (NPP), won a landslide 2-3rd majority in the 225-member Parliament, cementing Dissanayake’s position as president. The alliance, led by Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, had only 3 seats in the outgoing Parliament.
“As a fellow democracy, India welcomes the mandate and remains committed to further strengthening bilateral ties for the benefit of our peoples,’’ said the Indian high commission in a post on X, after Jha’s meeting with the president. Significantly, despite the Sinhala nationalism associated with the JVP, the Dissanayake-led alliance even outperformed Tamil parties in the north, including in the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
Jha is learnt to have reiterated PM Narendra Modi’s invitation to Dissanayake to visit India at a mutually convenient date. The invitation had been delivered by external affairs minister S Jaishankar when he met the president last month.
Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka barely a fortnight after the presidential polls, becoming the first foreign minister to call on the president. His visit signalled that Dissanayake, despite his party’s traditionally anti-India position, was responding positively to India’s efforts to reach out to him that saw the government hosting him here in February.
In his meeting with Jaishankar in October, Dissanayake assured him that Lankan territory would never be allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests. The president was said to have acknowledged the importance of efforts to promote trust, transparency and mutual sensitivity. This is important for India in the context of Sri Lanka’s growing ties with China even as, according to both governments, Indian and Lankan security interests remain intertwined.
With Jaishankar assuring him that India will continue to prioritise its ongoing developmental assistance for Sri Lanka, Dissanayake had told him India’s economic support is critical to realising his vision of a prosperous Sri Lanka and for meeting the aspirations of the people.
However, while Dissanayake has recognised the potential of export of renewable energy to India that could help reduce production costs in his country, India remains concerned about his pre-election threat to scrap a wind power project of the Adani group because of environmental issues. The president sees the project as violating Sri Lanka’s “energy sovereignty” and his government told the Supreme Court last month that it is reconsidering the approval granted to it by the previous government. It also said that the final decision will be conveyed to the court after the parliamentary polls and installation of the new cabinet.
The Indian government reiterated its invitation for the president to visit India at an early date as Indian high commissioner Santosh Jha called on Dissanayake shortly after the outcome of the snap polls became clear. Jha was the first foreign dignitary to meet Dissanayake also after the latter was elected president in September this year.
With 159 seats and 61 percent of the votes, the coalition, National People’s Power (NPP), won a landslide 2-3rd majority in the 225-member Parliament, cementing Dissanayake’s position as president. The alliance, led by Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, had only 3 seats in the outgoing Parliament.
“As a fellow democracy, India welcomes the mandate and remains committed to further strengthening bilateral ties for the benefit of our peoples,’’ said the Indian high commission in a post on X, after Jha’s meeting with the president. Significantly, despite the Sinhala nationalism associated with the JVP, the Dissanayake-led alliance even outperformed Tamil parties in the north, including in the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
Jha is learnt to have reiterated PM Narendra Modi’s invitation to Dissanayake to visit India at a mutually convenient date. The invitation had been delivered by external affairs minister S Jaishankar when he met the president last month.
Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka barely a fortnight after the presidential polls, becoming the first foreign minister to call on the president. His visit signalled that Dissanayake, despite his party’s traditionally anti-India position, was responding positively to India’s efforts to reach out to him that saw the government hosting him here in February.
In his meeting with Jaishankar in October, Dissanayake assured him that Lankan territory would never be allowed to be used in a manner inimical to India’s security interests. The president was said to have acknowledged the importance of efforts to promote trust, transparency and mutual sensitivity. This is important for India in the context of Sri Lanka’s growing ties with China even as, according to both governments, Indian and Lankan security interests remain intertwined.
With Jaishankar assuring him that India will continue to prioritise its ongoing developmental assistance for Sri Lanka, Dissanayake had told him India’s economic support is critical to realising his vision of a prosperous Sri Lanka and for meeting the aspirations of the people.
However, while Dissanayake has recognised the potential of export of renewable energy to India that could help reduce production costs in his country, India remains concerned about his pre-election threat to scrap a wind power project of the Adani group because of environmental issues. The president sees the project as violating Sri Lanka’s “energy sovereignty” and his government told the Supreme Court last month that it is reconsidering the approval granted to it by the previous government. It also said that the final decision will be conveyed to the court after the parliamentary polls and installation of the new cabinet.
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