Ranil Wickremesinghe calls on PM, Sonia

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) Sri Lankan Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe today called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the latest political and security situation in the island nation.

His visit to India comes at a time when the LTTE has stepped up violence threatening the four-year-old peace process.

During the meeting, the Sri Lankan leader is understood to have discussed the 'setback' in the peace process after the LTTE had unilaterally decided to withdraw from the talks with the government and the Ceasefire Monitoring Mission.

India wants the peace process to continue and has urged both Colombo and the LTTE to resume talks.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who arrived here yesterday on a five- day visit, also met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan.

Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed hosted a lunch in honour of the visiting Sri Lankan leader.

The visiting leader also held talks with BJP Leader Jaswant Singh.

Tomorrow, he will meet Opposition Leader L K Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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