Basil Rajapaksa may be next Sri Lankan Prime Minister

Colombo, Apr 15(ANI): With the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) registering a landslide victory in the April 8 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, Basil Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother, has emerged as a front runner for the Prime Minister post.

Basil is said to be the strongest contender, as he received the largest number of preferential votes in the elections (425,861).

He has been Mahinda Rajapaksa's election campaign manager, confidante and most trusted agent.

A Lanka newspaper report said that apart from Basil, other names under consideration are campaign manager Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Nimal Sripala de Silva and former Health Minister D. M. Jayaratne.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, however, may stick to incumbent Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramayanake, as he earned the latter's trust. he UPFA won 120 out of 180 seats up for grabs in the 225-seat parliament. The opposition United National Party got 47 seats.

Only 113 seats were needed to secure majority and form the government. (ANI)