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Dinesh Gunawardena, a hard core leader whose family has a relationship with India, is the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka with the uniqueness of fate when the country wrestles with an economic crisis that has never happened before and political chaos.
A supporter of Sri Lanka’s political, Mr. Gunawardena was appointed prime minister on July 22, the day after Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed to the presidential position. Mr. Gunawardena, 73, previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Education. He was appointed as Minister of Home Affairs in April at that time President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Direct Renewal of the Sri Lanka Crisis | Ali Sabry took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dinesh Gunawardena took an oath as a new prime minister
A school friend of President Wickremesinghe, Dinesh Gunawardena, has held various cabinet posts in the past. Born in 1949, Mr. Gunawardena is the majority leader of Trotskis Mahajana EXATH Peramuna (MEP), a constituent party from the Sri Lanka Polyza Party in power.
Mr. Gunawardena is included in the leading political family in Sri Lanka and is a close ally of the Rajapaksa family, who ruled the country for almost two decades. His father was a prominent figure in the left socialist movement in the British era before the country’s independence in 1948.
His sister, Indika, who died in 2015, was born in Bombay in 1943 when her parents hid in India because they had rebelled against the British government. Indika is a cabinet minister from 1994 to 2001.
Mr. Gunawardena received his primary and secondary education from Royal College, Colombo, and then studied at the Dutch Business School, graduated with diploma in business administration and management. He then joined the University of Oregon, graduated with BBA in international business. He replaced his father Philip Gunawardena in 1979 to lead the party.
Mr. Gunawardena entered parliament for the first time in 1983 from the suburbs of Maharagama which was dense and became a prominent opposition figure until 1994. He became a cabinet minister for the first time in 2000. He continued in the position of senior cabinet until 2015. He returned to the cabinet in 2020 .
The new government led by Mr. Wickremesinghe faced the task of leading the country out of the economic collapse and restoring order after months of mass protests that forced President Rajapaksa to escape the country and resign.
Sri Lanka has witnessed a protest since mid -April. The protesters demanded that their leaders resign over the economic crisis. Appointment of Mr. Gunawardena came a few hours after the security forces made several arrests and cleaned a protest camp near the presidential palace in the capital.
As Prime Minister, Mr. Gunawardena must walk on the rope. His close relationship with Rajapaksas can attract the anger of the protesters who blame the strong family for the worst economic crisis in the country.
The Cabinet consists of 18 people sworn
President Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed in his cabinet which consisted of 18 people in the hope of ending political instability and economic crisis that had never happened before in the country. The cabinet was inaugurated on the first day of Mr. Wickremeshe at the office.
Apart from Prime Minister Gunawardena, there are 17 other ministers in the cabinet. Ali Sabry, who previously led the Ministry of Finance, was appointed as Foreign Minister. Prime Minister Gunawardena has been given additional portfolios from domestic public administration, provincial and local government councils.
Other ministers were maintained with the same portfolio while President Wickremesinghe continued to hold the Ministry of Finance.
