New Delhi (Economic Times): India laid out a red carpet for Sri Lanka’s rising political star Aruna Kumar Dissanayake or AKD as the government hosted him in New Delhi and Gujarat ahead of the national elections in the island nation.

Dissanayake (leader of Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)/National People's Power (NPP)) came to India with a delegation comprising Vijitha Herath, Nihal Abeysinghe and Prof Anil Jayantha here and met both External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval this week.

The meetings gave the Indian government an opportunity to discuss the country’s strategic investments and regional security structures with Dissanayake, it is understood.

While the JVP has been around in the political sphere for nearly 60 years, AKD’s meeting with the Indian government officials would likely be its most important foreign engagement in recent times, sources said, adding from an anti-India posturing, JVP is showing willingness to engage with New Delhi. JVP and NPP are expected to perform well in the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections this year.

The NPP’s support base, which was made up mostly of youth, is now evolving to attract a wider and diverse demography of support, following the political instability and the economic crisis that the island nation faced during the last two years.

AKD, leader of JVP & NPP, has shown a keen interest to replicate the UIDAI model and Amul-type cooperative in Sri Lanka, ET has learnt. Amul is exploring options to open a unit in Sri Lanka.

Following his meetings in Gujarat, AKD wrote on X, “…we met with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, @Bhupendrapbjp, at Vidhana Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) in Gandhinagar. We discussed the state's development strategies for poverty alleviation and the state administration process. Subsequently, a special meeting was held with the Industry Minister of that state, @Balwantsinh99, and a presentation was also made on the 'Gujarat Model', which is used as a development model by the Indian government.”

Today (07), the third day of the visit to India, we met with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, @Bhupendrapbjp, at Vidana Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) in Gandhinagar. We discussed the state's development strategies for poverty alleviation and the state administration process.… pic.twitter.com/47Wx5paYdr

— Anura Kumara Dissanayake (@anuradisanayake) February 7, 2024

“Energy reforms, agriculture and water, infrastructure improvement, industry and investment, health care, and women's empowerment are the key areas of this Gujarat development model. We also joined an observation tour of agricultural areas and agro-industries in Ahmedabad,” he further wrote on X.