Colombo: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed two Opposition legislators to the Cabinet shortly before she dissolved Parliament and called elections on April 2, officials said.

Her international affairs advisor and former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was named Information Minister while Kumaratunga's People's Alliance general secretary D M Jayaratne was made Minister for Posts.

It would be the first time that Sri Lanka will have two Opposition legislators in the country's Cabinet. Their appointments just before the dissolution means that they need not prove their majority on the Floor of the House.

The move is seen by diplomats as another tactic by Kumaratunga to tighten her hold on power before facing the electorate.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he had not been informed of the two new appointments.