COLOMBO, Nov 7: Sri Lanka’s prime minister unleashed a wave of public support when he returned home on Friday, but the president came out fighting and gave no quarter in a power struggle threatening peace with Tamil rebels.

Earlier in the day, a government spokesman said President Kumaratunga had backed off from implementing the state of emergency decree announced on Wednesday.

However, he said she had authorized another less draconian law allowing troops to assist the police in maintaining law and order.

Fresh from receiving a seal of approval for his peace bid in the United States, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was mobbed by rapturous crowds, garlanded with flowers and bowed to a group of Buddhist monks after he stepped off a plane in Colombo.

Tens of thousands of well-wishers lined the highway from the airport chanting his name, dancing and waving banners as his convoy travelled at a walking pace into the capital. It took more than six hours to make the 21-km trip.

While he was away, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has bitterly criticized his handling of peace moves with Tamil Tiger rebels, suspended parliament until Nov 19 and sacked three of his most powerful ministers, plunging the island into crisis.

“Parliament must re-assemble. It is the only body with a mandate for negotiations,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.

But President Kumaratunga’s hard-hitting televised address showed she was not intimidated by the huge show of public support for her arch rival. She said a grave threat to national security had forced her hand.

She asked Mr Wickremesinghe to join her in a unity government — an idea that has surfaced repeatedly over the past decade, but has never been attempted because of the deep policy and personal difference between the main parties.

“I call upon all parties in parliament...to join me to form a grand alliance...with the objective of forming a government of national reconciliation,” she said.

“GRAVE DANGER”: The crisis has been looming since Mr Wickremesinghe won parliamentary elections in 2001, campaigning on a platform of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to defeat Chandrika Kumaratunga’s party.—Reuters