Who is Dinesh Gunawardena, new Sri Lankan Prime Minister?

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena: Dinesh Gunawardena is sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 15th Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office in Flower Road, Colombo on July 22, 2022. The 73-year-old was sworn in by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Dinesh Gunawardena, who was appointed interior minister in April by then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was chosen for the post of prime minister after much discussion within the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) on 21 July. He was sworn in along with 17 other ministers.

Dinesh Gunawardena is appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

He was sworn in as the new Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office in Flower Road, Colombo today.

(Image credit: NewsWire) pic.twitter.com/V6LnrpBQgj

— ANI (@ANI)
July 22, 2022

It comes after former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s eighth president on July 21 after winning the parliamentary vote, following Gotabaya’s resignation from his post amid massive protests.

With the swearing in of Sri Lanka’s new prime minister, the island nation aims to kick-start stalled work to pull the country out of one of its worst economic crises that has led to massive food and fuel shortages.

READ ALSO: Ranil Wickremesinghe Sworn In As New Sri Lankan President

Who is Dinesh Gunawardena? – Know your political background

• Dinesh Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as a minister, member of parliament and even leader of the house in the Sri Lankan Parliament.
• He has been the leader of the left-wing Sri Lankan Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Party (MEP) since 1983.
• He first worked in New York after graduating from college, but returned to Sri Lanka in 1972 after his father’s death.
• He was appointed to the central committee of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) in August 1973 and became its general secretary in 1974.
• He was the MEP candidate for Avissawella in the 1977 parliamentary election but lost. He again contested the 1983 by-election in the Maharagama electoral district and won.
• He again successfully contested the 1989 parliamentary election in the multi-member constituency of Colombo, but lost in the 1994 election when the MEP failed to win any seats in parliament.
• The MEP joined the People’s Alliance (PA) on 27 August 2000. Gunawardena then contested the 2000 parliamentary elections, representing the Colombo District People’s Alliance and returned to Parliament.
• He was Minister of Transport and the Environment from September 2001 to December 2001.
• The MEP joined the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in February 2004 and Gunawardena stood as the UPFA candidate in the 2004 parliamentary elections.
• He was first appointed Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply and Deputy Minister of Education.
• He was later appointed Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Spaces Development from January 2007 to April 2010.
• He was appointed Chief Government Whip in June 2008.
• He was re-elected in 2010 and was appointed Minister of Water Supply and Drainage and re-elected again in 2015.
• He is now part of the revival Sri Lankan Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP), led by former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Dinesh Gunawardena Family

Dinesh Gunawardena had married Ramani Wathsala Kotelawela and they had a son named Yadamini and a daughter named Sankapali.

His wife Ramani died of undiagnosed hepatitis in the mid-1980s.