Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday carried out the first reshuffle of the cabinet since he assumed office in November 2005 to accommodate dissidents of the main opposition United National Party (UNP).

The new cabinet composed of 52 members was sworn in before the president at the presidential secretariat, said a statement of the president's office.

"The new cabinet of ministers will include 10 members from the opposition UNP who have crossed over to the government," said the statement.

The former deputy leader of the UNP, Karu Jayasuriya, was sworn in as minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs.

The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauff Hakeem also took his oaths as minister of Posts and Telecommunications.

The incumbent Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was removed from his post, but he continued to hold his cabinet position as minister of Ports and Aviation.

The new foreign minister is Rohitha Bogollagama who himself had crossed over from the UNP in 2004.

President Rajapaksa retained his portfolios of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order, Religious Affairs, Finance and Planning, and Nation Building.

Analysts say Rajapakse wants opposition legislators to join him in view of the decision by the main left party the JVP, or the People's Liberation Front, to stay out of the government.

The JVP has 38 legislators in the ruling alliance's current strength of 126 members in the 225-legislator parliament.

The JVP is unhappy with Rajapakse government's policy of tryingto negotiate with the Tamil Tigers in the separatist armed conflict.

Rajapakse's recent military successes against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are hailed by the main left party and they want the military campaign against the rebels continued.

Rajapakse has enticed the UNP members to join him despite his Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe signed in October last year.

The MOU bound the two parties over a period of two years for coo-operation, foremost among them is the Norwegian backed peace process with the LTTE in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2007)