MR assumes duties as Prime Minister

By Nuwan Senarathna 

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was sworn in as Prime Minister on Sunday, assumed duties at Temple Trees in Colombo yesterday. Prime Minister Rajapaksa assumed duties at the auspicious time of 10.35 am, amidst chanting of Seth Pirith by the Maha Sangha invoking blessing. 

Former President and MP Maithripala Sirisena, members of the Rajapaksa family, Governors, and newly- elected MPs of SLPP attended the ceremony. 

After assuming duties, the Premier offered alms to the Maha Sangha and the clergy. 

At the conclusion of the ceremony, both the President and Prime Minister greeted the public gathered at the venue.

Completing five decades in active politics, PM Rajapaksa entered Parliament in 1970, and played a pivotal role as a Cabinet Minister during the 1995-2004 period.

PM Rajapaksa was last week elected to the post of Prime Minister for the fourth time. He will go down in history as the first-ever Sri Lankan to become Prime Minister four times, after serving two terms as the Executive President. 

PM Mahinda Rajapaksa has served two terms as the Executive President from 2005 to 2015.

Contesting from Kurunegala District in the recently concluded Parliamentary Election, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa received a record-breaking 527,364 preferential votes, the highest number of votes a candidate ever received.