Former prime minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was made deputy defence minister in addition to holding two full cabinet portfolios of Public Security, Law and Order and Buddhist Affairs, a spokesman said.

With President Chandrika Kumaratunga holding the defence portfolio, it is the deputy minister who will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the ministry.

The secretary of Sri Lanka's Communist party, D.E.W. Gunasekara, was sworn in Wednesday as minister of Constitutional Affairs while university academic Vishwa Warnapala was made deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.

It was the second cabinet expansion since a leftist coalition took office after the April 2 elections.

WAR.WIRE