Ruwan Wijewardene

Dinendra Ruwan Wijewardene (Sinhala:දිනෙන්ද්‍ර රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) (known as Ruwan Wijewardene) is a Sri Lankan politician, He was the State Minister of Defence & Mass Media non-cabinet Minister,[2] Member of Parliament for Gampaha District[3] and the United National Party (UNP) chief organiser for Biyagama Electorate. Prior to entering parliament in 2010, he was a member of the Western Provincial Council.[4] He was appointed as the acting minister of defence few times after 2019.[5][6]

Hon.

Ruwan Wijewardene

MP
The State Minister of Defence &
Mass Media non-cabinet Minister
In office
12 January 2015 – 17 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Non-cabinet Minister of Mass Media [1]
In office
22 February 2019 – 17 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament
for Gampaha District
In office
2010–2020
Personal details
Born (1975-08-04) 4 August 1975
Nationality Sri Lankan
Political partyUnited National Party
ParentsRanjith Wijewardene
Ranjani Wijewardene
(née Senanayake)
Residence50/9, Siripa Road,
Colombo 05. Sri Lanka.
Alma materS. Thomas' Preparatory School, Colombo, Sri Lanka
University of Sussex
OccupationPolitics

Early life

Born to a political dynasty, he is the youngest son of Ranjani Senanayake and Ranjith Wijewardene (Chairman of Wijeya Newspapers). His maternal great grandfather, Rt Hon D.S Senanayake, was the first prime minister of Ceylon and his grand uncle, Dudley Senanayake, was the second prime minister of Ceylon and went on to become prime minister two more times during the 1950s and 1960s. His paternal grandfather, D. R. Wijewardena, was a press baron who was a leader in the Sri Lankan independence movement. A successful entrepreneur, he established Lake House newspapers and played a major role in the independence movement. Ruwan Wijewardene is a nephew of the first executive president J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka and a cousin of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.[7][8]

Education

Wijewardene completed his primary and secondary education at St. Thomas' Preparatory School. He then pursued further studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, where he earned a BA.

Political career

Wijewardene contested the Western Provincial elections in 2009 and was a member of the Western Provincial Council until 2010. He stood for parliamentary elections 2010 and secured the highest number of preference votes from Gampaha District. He is tipped to be the next Leader of the United National Party.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

See also

References
  1. Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Non-Cabinet Minister of Media
  2. Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Mass Media non-cabinet Minister.
  3. Parliamentary Elections (2010) Electoral District No:- 02 - Gampaha.
  4. New Cabinet ministers sworn in.
  5. Ruwan Wijewardene appointed as Acting Defence Minister
  6. Ruwan appointed as Acting Defence Minister as President leaves for Britain
  7. Ruwan Wijewardene wants to revive UNP.
  8. “I’m more of a liberal democrat like Dudley”.
  9. රනිල්ගෙන් පස්‌සේ . Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 5 May 2010.
  10. රුවන් සුදුසුකම් සපුරන තුරු නායකත්වයෙන් ඉවත් වෙන්නේ නෑ Dinamina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  11. රුවන් විජයවර්ධන එජාප නායකත්වයට තව පියවරක් ලං වෙයි.. නියෝජ්‍ය මහ ලේකම් ධුරයට පත් කෙරේ
  12. එජාප නායකත්වය රුවන් විජේවර්ධනට
  13. එජාපයේ සියලූ තනතුරු වෙනස්වෙයි, නව නායක රුවන් Irida Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 16 August 2020.
  14. Ranil's focus on giving UNP leadership to Ruwan?. Sri Lanka Mirror, Retrieved on 8 August 2020.
  15. I am willing to lead UNP if party members want me to: Ruwan. The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 11 August 2020.
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