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PM to hold talks with, Blair, Vajpayee and Jayalalithaa
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has planned to visit New Delhi to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in the first week of June ahead of the Government-LTTE peace talks in Thailand, The Sunday Times learns.

The premier's decision to visit the Indian leadership comes in the wake of mounting Indian concern over the possibility of an LTTE-dominated interim administration in Sri Lanka's north and east. The visit will come after Prime Minister Wickremesinghe visits Chennai "sometime in June" to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and exchange views on the peace process in Sri Lanka.

Premier Wickremesinghe, who has met Ms. Jayalalitha on previous occasions, is learnt to have sent a message to her, stating that he would like to meet her.
The Meeting was earlier scheduled for March when the Prime Minister was expected to attend the wedding of Indian High Commissioner Gopal Gandhi's daughter in Bangalore, but had to be postponed due to developing events in Colombo over the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the LTTE.

The Wickremesinghe-Jayalalithaa meeting now has added significance with the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly calling for the extradition of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to India to face trial for the murder of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, a motion spearheaded by Ms. Jayalalithaa herself.

Mr. Wickremesinghe is also expected to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London soon. Meanwhile, President Chandrika Kumaratunga is due in New Delhi next week on a private visit to give the first Madav Rao Scindia Memorial lecture on "Democracy and Conflict".

Despite it being a private visit, President Kumaratunga is due to have a luncheon meeting with Premier Vajpayee and also meet Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, widow of Rajiv Gandhi, and Home Minister L. K. Advani.

Minister Milinda Moragoda was in New Delhi in the last few days, meeting officials. Minister G. L. Peiris is expected next week in New Delhi where he has requested a meeting with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to explain Sri Lanka's position vis-a-vis the peace process.

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