The Gandhi dynasty's return to power in India could complicate Sri Lanka's peace process, with fears that New Delhi may press for extradition of the Tamil rebel leader accused in the killing of former premier Rajiv Gandhi.
Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv's widow, has just become parliamentary leader of Congress, India's new ruling party, and is likely to take over as prime minister this week.
"There is a greater need for Sri Lankan political leaders to recognise that the new Indian prime minister will surely take a hard line on LTTE, especially for killing her husband," the Sunday Times said in an editorial.
Sri Lanka's attempts to end its two-decade ethnic war are at a critical stage after President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party won power in April and pushed for resuming stalled talks with the rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The talks were suspended in April last year after several rounds of negotiations following a cease-fire signed in 2002.
Rajiv Gandhi, who as prime minister in the late 1980s sent Indian troops to Sri Lanka to disarm the LTTE, was killed by a woman suicide bomber as he campaigned for 1991 elections that would have returned him to power.
An Indian court convicted LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran of masterminding Rajiv's assassination and India has formally requested his extradition. India also banned the LTTE, which it once trained and armed.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said in Washington last week the question of Prabhakaran's extradition could come up in the next few months.
He said that the Congress party had made it clear to Sri Lanka before the Indian election that extradition "remains on the table and there is no question of withdrawing it".
The LTTE has declined to comment on the political developments in India.
The outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition in India encouraged negotiations with the LTTE and did not raise the extradition issue.
Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have called for greater Indian involvement in the peace process, but the ban on the rebel group has stopped New Delhi from playing a direct role.
"With Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi likely to become prime minister...recent overtures by the Sri Lankan government to have India play a greater role in the peace process have been dashed," the Island newspaper said.
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