Sri Lanka President  

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Handshake, my name is Amal Chowdhury and today we will be talking about how India and Sri Lanka need a fresh start in diplomacy.
 

Earlier, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former defence secretary and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, based his campaign on providing strong leadership on national security issues.

Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sri Lanka's former defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa on winning the 2019 Presidential elections

During the Presidential elections in Sri Lanka, the six-week campaign in a neck-and-neck race witnessed tensions mounting across the country, with the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) documenting at least 743 electoral violations, including at least 45 cases of assaults or threats.

Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said the airport built with Indian assistance marks an important development for the region as well as the whole of Sri Lanka. Alliance Air (the subsidiary of Air India) launched a flight to the airport with invitees from the aviation industry

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has named his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna presidency. Gotabhaya had led Rajapaksa's military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) between 2006 and 2009 and won the hearts of many.
 

The Sri Lankan apex court's order came after it took into consideration a number of petitions filed against the president's order, that termed the order as a violation of the fundamental rights of the convicts
 

Political turmoil in the island nation was triggered late on October 26 when Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena appointed his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. It was opposed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, who insists he's still in charge. The two are now set to face off in parliament in a confidence vote.

 "No one knew it better than me," said Sirisena, who was the acting defence minister during the last two weeks of the civil war with the LTTE in May, 2009 when the rebels were eventually defeat