President to swear in 28 member Cabinet today

President Maithripala Sirisena is expected to swear in 28 members of the Cabinet today, government sources said yesterday.

It was reported that the UNP has sent in 36 names to the President to be appointed as Ministers and that he had struck off eight of them.

President has omitted the names of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka and Palitha Range Bandara from the UNP while he had also omitted the names of A. H. M. Fowzie, Lakshman Seneviratne, Wijith Wijemuni de Soysa and Piyasena Gamage who crossed over to the government from the SLFP.

It is likely that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as Minister of Economic Policies and Development Strategies, Mangala Samaraweera as Minister of Finance and Media, Ravi Karunanayake as Minister of Power and Energy and Sagala Ratnayake as Minister of Ports and Shipping.

Dr. Rajitha Senaratne is expected to be sworn in as Minister of Health, and Patali Champika Ranawaka as Minister of Megapolis and Western Region Development.

Meanwhile, President Sirisena had a discussion with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe at his official residence on the appointment of the new Cabinet last evening. MPs Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Navin Dissanayake had participated in this discussion according to informed sources. The President also met with UPFA members earlier in the day yesterday.