COLOMBO, 14 September 2005 — A rift in Sri Lanka’s ruling party widened yesterday when the foreign minister openly berated the prime minister, presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse — a public scolding analysts say could hurt his election bid.

Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike distanced himself from Rajapakse just three days after his sister, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, rapped the premier in a newspaper interview for forging a pact with hard-line Marxists demanding a tough line on Tamil Tiger rebels.

“I really don’t care about the outcome of the election now since the party’s long upheld principles have been betrayed,” Bandaranaike, who is also his party’s nominee for next prime minister, told the Daily Mirror newspaper.

“Our party’s candidate has joined hands with extremist forces and understandably I and my sister strongly feel a major damage has been done to the party by his actions,” Bandaranaike told the paper in a telephone interview from London.

Colombo’s All Share Price Index surged on news of the spat as investors bet that Rajapakse’s main election rival, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, would benefit from swing votes.

The former premier, who heads the right-wing United National Party (UNP), is seen as more market friendly, and the all-share index closed a provisional 1.35 percent higher.

Rajapakse, who is in full campaign swing and forged another pact with hard-line Buddhist monks yesterday in the island’s ancient hill capital of Kandy, declined to comment. Political analysts said Bandaranaike’s comments could undermine Rajapakse’s campaign, saying a spat within Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) could scare off moderates ahead of the presidential poll expected in November.

“The president, the Bandaranaike family and the SLFP’s old guard are worried about the leadership of the party moving away from the Bandaranaike dynasty,” said Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, head of Colombo University’s political science section.

“This is very damaging to Rajapakse’s campaign. With all the internal politics in his own party, it is going to be very difficult for the prime minister,” he added.

To strengthen his position, Wickremesinghe has agreed to address issues of concern to the Muslim community and ensure the return of land seized from them by Tamil rebels if he wins power in upcoming election.

Representatives of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka met with Wickremesinghe on Monday “to discuss the forthcoming presidential elections and the Muslim factor,” the group said in a statement.

Wickremesinghe narrowly lost to Chandrika in the 1999 presidential election and the support of Sri Lanka’s 1.3 million Muslims could be crucial in the poll to be held before Nov. 22.

The council demanded an “equitable share in the fields of education, employment” and “representation in the peace process,” the statement said. Wickremesinghe “came to a consensus with the delegation on every issue and agreed to implement them under his presidency,” the council said.