President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday re-appointed Power and Energy Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte as Deputy Defence Minister.

Minister Ratwatte took oaths as the Deputy Defence Minister before Prime Minister and the Acting Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, ministry officials said.

The appointment raises the number of deputy ministers to 36.President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s decision to exclude Minister Ratwatte from the list of deputy ministers appointed 16 days after she named a 44-member cabinet, fuelled speculation that the President was to take charge of the ongoing security forces campaign against the LTTE. Of the 116 PA MPs, so far 80 have been appointed Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Political sources said that they never expected the President to appoint Minister Ratwatte as the Deputy Defence Minister, after she asked the Premier Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to function as the Acting Defence Minister in her absence. It was not clear whether the President has informed her cabinet colleagues of the decision before she left for London late last week or "order" was given from there.

Earlier, the Minister’s colleagues said the President, angered by a series of allegations levelled against the minister and his sons over their alleged involvement in malpractices during the October 10 parliamentary elections, would not place the police and the armed forces under Ratwatte again. The UNP accused the minister of deploying police, servicemen and deserters to win the Kandy district poll.

However, Minister Ratwatte participated in the National Security Council [NSC] talks in the recent past although he was not made the Deputy Minister, the sources said.(SF)