Ruwan Wijewardene
{{Short description|Sri Lankan politician (born 1975)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| honorific-suffix =
| image = DR Wijewardene.jpg
| caption =
| order =
| office = Deputy Leader of the United National Party
| term_start = 14 September 2020
| predecessor = Sajith Premadasa
| office2 = State Minister of Defence
| president2 = Maithripala Sirisena
| primeminister2 = Ranil Wickremesinghe
| term_start2 = 12 January 2015
| term_end2 = 17 November 2019
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| office3 = Non-cabinet Minister of Mass Media [https://colombogazette.com/2019/02/22/ruwan-wijewardene-appointed-non-cabinet-minister-of-media/ Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Non-Cabinet Minister of Media]
| president3 = Maithripala Sirisena
| primeminister3 = Ranil Wickremesinghe
| term_start3 = 22 February 2019
| term_end3 = 17 November 2019
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| constituency_MP1 = Gampaha District
| parliament1 = Sri Lankan
| term_start1 = 22 April 2010
| term_end1 = 3 March 2020
| majority1 = 157,932 Preferential Votes
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|08|04|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = Sri Lankan
| party = United National Party
| occupation = Politician
| spouse =
| partner =
| alma_mater = S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Colombo, Sri Lanka
University of Sussex
| signature =
| residence = Sri Lanka.
| website =
}}
Dinendra Ruwan Wijewardene (Sinhala: දිනේන්ද්ර රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) is a Sri Lankan politician and currently the Senior advisor to president Ranil Wickremesinghe on Climate change. He was the former State Minister of Defence and former Mass Media non-cabinet Minister.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Ruwan-Wijewardene-appointed-Mass-Media-non-cabinet-Minister/108-162784 Ruwan Wijewardene appointed Mass Media non-cabinet Minister]. He was a former Member of Parliament for Gampaha District.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100513040940/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/GE2010_preferences/Gampaha_pref_GE2010.pdf Parliamentary Elections (2010) Electoral District No:- 02 - Gampaha]. Also he is the Deputy Leader of the United National Party and chief organiser for Kelaniya Electorate.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/top_story/Ruwan-Wijewardene-elected-Deputy-Leader-of-UNP/155-195851 Ruwan Wijewardene elected Deputy Leader of UNP]. Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 14 September 2020.[https://srilankamirror.com/news/17860-ruwan-appointed-to-kelaniya-electorate Ruwan appointed to Kelaniya electorate]. Sri Lanka Mirror, Retrieved on 21 April 2020.
Prior to entering parliament in 2010, he was a member of the Western Provincial Council.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/61073/new-cabinet-ministers-sworn-in New Cabinet ministers sworn in]. He was appointed as the acting minister of defence few times after 2019.[http://www.sundaytimes.lk/article/1087743/ruwan-wijewardene-appointed-as-acting-defence-minister Ruwan Wijewardene appointed as Acting Defence Minister][http://www.sundaytimes.lk/article/1094480/ruwan-appointed-as-acting-defence-minister-as-president-leaves-for-britain Ruwan appointed as Acting Defence Minister as President leaves for Britain]
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 the cousin of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current President of Sri Lanka.[http://www.nation.lk/2009/03/22/inter2.htm Ruwan Wijewardene wants to revive UNP].[http://www.nation.lk/2010/03/07/inter4.htm “I’m more of a liberal democrat like Dudley”].
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 in Political science.
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 lost his seat in parliament in 2020 general elections. He was elected as deputy leader of the UNP on 14 September 2020 and he is tipped to be the next Leader of the United National Party.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200130173902/http://www.divaina.com/2010/05/05/manopage.html රනිල්ගෙන් පස්සේ ]. Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 5 May 2010.[http://archives.dinamina.lk/2010/06/18/_art.asp?fn=p1006181 රුවන් සුදුසුකම් සපුරන තුරු නායකත්වයෙන් ඉවත් වෙන්නේ නෑ] Dinamina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 18 June 2010.[http://lankacnews.com/රුවන්-විජයවර්ධන-එජාප-නාය/ රුවන් විජයවර්ධන එජාප නායකත්වයට තව පියවරක් ලං වෙයි.. නියෝජ්ය මහ ලේකම් ධුරයට පත් කෙරේ][https://lankacnews.com/එජාප-නායකත්වය-රුවන්-විජේ/ එජාප නායකත්වය රුවන් විජේවර්ධනට][https://divaina.com/sunday/index.php/main-news-2/14819-with-80 එජාපයේ සියලූ තනතුරු වෙනස්වෙයි, නව නායක රුවන්]
Irida Divaina (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 16 August 2020.[https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/19179-ranil-s-focus-on-giving-unp-leadership-to-ruwan Ranil's focus on giving UNP leadership to Ruwan?]. Sri Lanka Mirror, Retrieved on 8 August 2020.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/I-am-willing-to-lead-UNP-if-party-members-want-me-to-Ruwan/108-193546 I am willing to lead UNP if party members want me to: Ruwan]. The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 11 August 2020.[https://lankacnews.com/එජාප-නායක-වෙන්න-මං-සූදානම/ එජාප නායක වෙන්න මං සූදානම්]. Lanka C News (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 19 August 2020.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Ruwan-willing-to-accept-party-leadership/108-194620 Ruwan willing to accept party leadership]. The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 27 August 2020.[http://www.dailymirror.lk/top_story/Ruwan-Wijewardene-elected-Deputy-Leader-of-UNP/155-195851 Ruwan Wijewardene elected Deputy Leader of UNP]. Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 14 September 2020.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/gen3062.htm Wijewardene Ancestry]
- [http://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/gen3001.html The Senanayake Ancestry]
- [http://www.parliament.lk/en/members-of-parliament/directory-of-members/viewMember/3139 Sri Lanka Parliament profile]
- [https://youtube.com/watch?v=CB7-nfzbe_0 Sri Lanka blasts: Lanka's Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene talks to WION]. WION.
{{Members of 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka}}
{{Members of 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka}}
{{Members of the Sri Lankan Parliament from Gampaha}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wijewardene, Ruwan}}
Category:United National Party politicians
Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex
Category:Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka
Category:Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Category:Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Category:Alumni of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya