Colombo: Sri Lankan Parliament on Wednesday voted back ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Parliament passed a motion with a majority of 117 out of 225 members.
While the south Asian country is gearing up for a new political wave, Wickremesinghe is not an unknown name in India.
In 2015, when Wickremesinghe was voted to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him and extended his best wishes. Wickremesinghe has always been positive about the relation between India and Sri Lanka reaching new heights.
Wickremesinghe had an idea how to resolve the age-old problem with fishermen from both the countries. At a media briefing in 2015, he said that the issue with fishermen from India and Sri Lanka who often cross into each other’s territorial waters will be concluded in a time-bound manner.
In more recent times, when India, along with China, US and Japan, was accused of buying Sri Lankan assets, Wickremesinghe said that his country will only lease out oil tanks to India under the proposed deal to jointly operate a strategic oil facility in the eastern port district of Trincomalee.
“We are going to cater to the oil demand in India by leasing out the tanks,” Wickremesinghe said in 2017 at a gathering in the central town of Welimada.
In 2018, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe held a meeting to discuss a range of issues related to bilateral ties. Both the leaders also had a talk about how to progress India-assisted development projects in the island nation.
"Special place in our hearts for Sri Lanka. PM Narendra Modi welcomes the Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe. At the delegation level talks, the leaders took stock of the entire range of our bilateral relations, specially the development projects in Sri Lanka," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson tweeted.
Both the leaders were always willing to deliberate on the Tamil issue, including reconciliation and devolution of powers in Tamil-dominated areas.