Colombo, November 18 (newsin.asia): Sri Lanka’s opposition Presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who won Saturday’s Presidential Election by a margin of 1.3 million votes, was sworn in as the seventh Executive President of Sri Lanka in Anuradhapura on Monday by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya in the presence of Secretary to the President Udaya Seneviratne.
Anuradhapura, in North Central Sri Lanka, is a major Buddhist centre with a past going into very ancient times. It is known for its Bodhi tree. Called the Sri Maha Bodhi the tree was brought from India by Princess Sangamitta, the daughter of Emperor Ashoka, in 288 BC and planted here by King Devanampiya Tissa.
It was under the mother Bodhi tree at Gaya in the Bihar State of India that the Buddha obtained Enlightenment.
The Rahapaksas, family of successful and popular politicians, have a tradition of beginning their political journies from Anuradhapura.
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