President Chandrika Kumaratunga attended the brief ceremony where six new ministers of non-cabinet rank and one deputy minister swore oaths.

Kumaratunga, an opposition member who was elected separately from Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe's government, had clashed with the prime minister several times over the second expansion of his government in less than a year, presidential spokesman Janadasa Peiris said.

``The president does not in any way support this move and thinks its quite unnecessary,'' Peiris said, adding that the president conceded to the appointments because the prime minister insisted on them.

Kumaratunga's Peoples' Alliance party was defeated in a December 2001 election by Wickremesinghe's United National Front, but she remains president until 2005.

Her wide executive powers allow her to dismiss the government and sack any minister.

The new appointments bring the total number of people in the government to 67 with 32 Cabinet ministers, 27 in a second tier and eight deputies. Another non-Cabinet minister who is presently overseas will be sworn in later, Peiris said.

The government and its allies control 129 seats in the 225-member legislature.

The new ministers will increase the government's efficiency by helping with disaster management and tourism development, said J. Dissanayake, a senior official in the prime minister's office. Published: Fri Jan 24 10:52:41 EST 2003