JVP says Rajapaksa is moving away from pledged Mahinda Chinthana

The Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) said Rajapaksa has timed the swearing-in just before the Sri Lanka Development Forum (SLDF) so that the world leaders would be convinced of his authority.

JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath told BBC Sandeshaya that the 52-member cabinet is a move against their mutually agreed policy, Mahinda Chinthana.

President Rajapaksa reshuffled his cabinet on Sunday accommodating 18 dissidents from the main opposition and six Muslim parliamentarians.

Appease international donors

The President and 104 members of parliament hold senior or junior portfolios in the reshuffled government.

Herath said Rajapaksa has tried to signal the international community that his administration is ready to listen by accommodating "so called liberals and federalists".

He (Preisdent) made the same pledge just after he was elected, but re-opened the A9 highway the next day to appease the international donors   Vijitha Herath

Former peace negotiators of the UNP-led government, Prof. GL Peiris and Milinda Moragoda, and peace campaigner Rajitha Senaratne are members of the new cabinet of ministers.

Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, widely described as a close friend of the JVP, was stripped of foreign ministry.

Corruption and privatisation

Opening the SLDF in Galle on Monday President Rajapaksa vowed to continue with Mahinda Chinthana and protest the country from terrorism.

Vijitha Herath, however, says the President's pledges and actions are contradictory.

"He made the same pledge just after he was elected, but re-opened the A9 highway the next day to appease the international donors," Herath told bbcsinhala.com.

The JVP accused the Rajapaksa administration of corruption and working on a privatisation agenda.