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 ha.
