Mahindananda Aluthgamage ( Sinhala:මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ) (born 21 November 1964) is a Sri Lankan politician and a former Minister of Sports. He has also served as Deputy Minister of Power and Energy. He is currently serving as the state minister of Power and Energy. He is a current

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

representing the

Kandy Electoral District Kandy (Mahanuwara) electoral district is one of the 22 multi-member electoral districts of Sri Lanka created by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. The district is conterminous with the administrative district of Kandy in the Central province. ...

. He was educated at Gangasiripura Vidyalaya

Gampola Gampola ( si, ගම්පොල, ta, கம்பளை) is a town located in Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. Gampola was made the capital of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four yea ...

and

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

. He lost his position as a minister in 2015 when former President Mahinda Rajapaksha was defeated at the election. He is well known for his ability to speak Sinhala, Tamil and English fluently and gained popularity among Tamil community for his political rallies in Northern Province.

Career

He entered the mainstream politics in 1990 at the age of 25. He served as a people's representative in the Sri Lankan Parliament in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2020. He served as the minister of sports from 2010 to 2015. He was sworn in as the state minister of Power and Energy on 27 November 2019. In February 2020, his position was later changed and modified as state minister of Renewable Energy and Power. In June 2020, he was appointed as the spokesperson for the Sri Lankan government. In June 2020, he completed his 30 years of politics.

Controversies

In 2018, he was accused of mishandling the funds during his tenure as sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and was arrested regarding the funds spent on imported cricket and other sports equipments.

Fixing allegations

On 18 June 2020, in an interview with

News First News First or News 1st is a Sri Lankan news organization owned by the Capital Maharaja Organization Ltd. News 1st primarily broadcasts news, live on three TV channels (Sirasa TV, Shakthi TV, TV1, five radio channels (Sirasa FM, Yes FM, Shakthi FM ...

he made a shocking allegation that during his tenure as sports minister the 2011 World Cup final featuring

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

was fixed and further claimed that the 2011 World Cup trophy was sold to India without specifying any evidence. He didn't reveal the details of the cricketers and insisted that he will not disclose the details for the sake of the country with absolute responsibility. His comments drew widespread criticism and global media attention among the cricket fraternity. Former Sri Lankan cricketers

Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...

and

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

who were part of the World Cup final denied the allegations and claimed that the minister was seeking for

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...

and political advantage ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election. The

Ministry of Sports A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. The Ministry of Youth and Spo ...

also launched an investigation to probe the allegations made by Mahindananda. Ex Sri Lanka cricket team captain

Arjuna Ranatunga Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga ( si, අර්ජුන රණතුංග; ta, அர்ஜூன ரணதுங்க; born 1 December 1963), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and politician, who was the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning captain ...

also made a serious allegation that the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final match between India and Sri Lanka had been fixed. Both Aluthgamage and Ranatunga demanded a probe into the events at the final match. The

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

stated that it will investigate him based on his match-fixing allegations under ICC anti-corruption unit. On 25 June 2020, however he claimed that his allegations were only suspicion and demanded for an independent investigation regarding the fixing claims. Although Sri Lankan Police conducted a probe, they later dropped it citing lack of sufficient evidence. Later

rubbished the

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

claims made by Ranatunga and Aluthgamage.

References

External links

Biographies of Member of Parliament
1964 births Living people Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka Sports ministers of Sri Lanka United People's Freedom Alliance politicians Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Members of the 11th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna politicians Politicians from Kandy Sinhalese politicians 2011 Cricket World Cup {{Authority control