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Modi invites President Maithripala Sirisena
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was prompt in inviting Sri Lankan President-elect Maithripala Sirisena to New Delhi even before he was sworn in, the Congress-led Opposition appeared a bit circumspect.
Quite glowing in his praise, Modi, in his letter to President Sirisena, significantly wrote that it was the latter’s “vision for Sri Lanka” and his “capacity to connect with people’s yearning for change” that ensured his victory.
Also underlining his approach towards the Saarc neighbourhood since he was sworn in, the Prime Minister added that he hoped to “take” Indo-Sri Lankan “relations to a new level for the benefit of the people” of the region.
Having set a positive tone, the PM then softly advised the newly elected President that “effective reconciliation” was crucial, for him to succeed in building a “peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka”. Modi’s invite to the new Lankan President came thereafter.
Though no less welcoming of Sirisena’s victory, the Congress underlined that the election should usher in a new era for the long suffering ethnic Tamil population of the island nation.
This was after party supremo Sonia Gandhi’s congratulatory statement to the new Lankan President was read out. “We hope that the new President would use the mandate and the votes he got from the (Lankan) Tamil population to make tangible progress on long-pending issues. We hope he will uphold the rights of the minority population of his country,” Congress spokesperson Shoba Oza said. (The New Indian Express)
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