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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse left on a three-day state visit to the Maldives today even as dissatisfaction among his recently sacked ministers gathered steam. Rajapakse and an entourage of ministers will meet Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom today for official talks, the president's office said. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga was expected to return from India to back the campaign that is to be launched by her brother, Anura Bandaranaike, who was one of the three ministers dismissed on Friday, media reports said today. Another of the deposed ministers, Mangala Samaraweera, a close Kumaratunga ally, is also likely to be back in the country today from Singapore where he was on a private visit when President Rajapakse announced the dismissal. Bandaranaike was expected to "go on the offensive" against Rajapakse and leading members of the government, the Sunday Island said. Both Bandaranaike, Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi, a minister of non-Cabinet rank who was also sacked, have had the security detail provided by the government reduced. On Saturday, Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) endorsed the president's decision to remove the three ministers saying that their conduct had been a serious breach of discipline. The dissenters had criticised the recent influx of 18 defectors from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to swell the ranks of the SLFP in the legislature. Accompanying Rajapakse to the Maldives are three former UNP members, G. L. Peiris, Milinda Moragoda and Rohitha Bogollagama, all elevated to the Cabinet in a reshuffle two weeks ago.
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