Gampaha, Feb 19: Rallying supporters in her home town, Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga blasted her rival Prime Minister for mishandling a peace bid with the Tamil Tigers.
Kumaratunga, campaigning for April 2 general elections, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was too amenable to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and asked for a strong mandate to start new talks with the rebels.
''With a new and stronger government, we are ready to talk to the LTTE, who should be given a chance to enter mainstream politics,'' she told a 3,000-strong crowd in the small town.
''I need a clear and massive mandate,'' she added.
Speaking in the Bandaranaike Central College -- named after her father, a former Prime Minister -- she said Wickremesinghe had ''mismanaged'' the peace process.
''He never does anything properly,'' she said, dressed in a blue sari, the colour of her SLFP Party.
Wickremesinghe signed a ceasefire with the Tigers in February 2002. The truce brought the divided island the longest lull in fighting since 1983. When he tried to complement it with a political agreement in November, Kumaratunga said he compromised national security and sacked three of his ministers.
Eleven days ago, she called snap elections that will be fought over how to make peace with the Tigers and end a two-decade-old war in which more than 64,000 have died.
Kumaratunga's presidential mandate runs till 2005, but she campaigns for her Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which sits in opposition since losing 2001 polls.
All the President's outings are high-security affairs since a suspected Tiger suicide attack in the final days of her 1999 presidential campaign cost her an eye and killed 26 bystanders. Bureau Report