PM Narendra Modi Congratulates Gotabaya Rajapaksa For Victory In Sri Lanka Presidential Polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his victory in the 2019 Sri Lanka Presidential Election. Rajapaksa has claimed victory in the Sri Lanka presidential polls after a closely fought election, as his main opponent Sajith Premadasa of the ruling United National Party conceded defeat on Saturday.

"Congratulations @GotabayaR on your victory in the Presidential elections. I look forward to working closely with you for deepening the close and fraternal ties between our two countries and citizens, and for peace, prosperity as well as security in our region," PM Modi tweeted.

"I also congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for the successful conduct of the elections," he added.

I also congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for the successful conduct of the elections.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 17, 2019

India will hope to continue its good ties with Sri Lanka specially with the victory of Rajapaksa who is considered pro-China. The election outcome may have a bearing on India's presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making its inroads. China, which has acquired Sri Lanka's Hambantota port in 2017 as a debt swap, has been ramping up its ties with the island nation and expanded its naval presence in the Indian Ocean with an established logistics base in Djibouti.

Beijing in July gifted a warship to Sri Lanka, in a growing sign of its deepening military cooperation with the strategically located island nation in the Indian Ocean.

The Lanka election took place nearly seven months after homegrown radicals pledging loyalty to the Islamic State terror group detonated suicide bombs at three churches and three posh hotels, killing 269 people, seriously hitting the tourism industry, one of the main forex earning sectors of the country.