Dinendra Ruwan Wijewardene ( Sinhala:දිනෙන්ද්‍ර රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) (known as ''Ruwan Wijewardene'') is a

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 ...

n politician and currently the Senior advisor to president (

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

) on

Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. He was the former State Minister of Defence and former Mass Media non-cabinet Minister. He was a former

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 ...

for

Gampaha District Gampaha District ( si, ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ta, கம்பஹா மாவட்டம் ''Kampahā Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administ ...

. Also he is the Deputy Leader of the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

and chief organiser for Kelaniya Electorate. Prior to entering parliament in 2010, he was a member of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Provincial Council. He was appointed as the acting minister of defence few times after 2019.

Early life

Born to a political dynasty, he is the youngest son of Ranjani Senanayake and Ranjith Wijewardene (Chairman of

Wijeya Newspapers Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL) is a Sri Lankan media company which publishes a number of national newspapers and magazines. Formerly known as Wijeya Publications Limited, WNL was founded in 1979 by Ranjith Wijewardene, son of media mogul D. R. Wij ...

). His maternal great grandfather, Rt Hon D.S Senanayake, was the first prime minister of Ceylon and his grand uncle,

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake ( Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ta, டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Mi ...

, 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 Don Richard Wijewardena ( Sinhala:දොන් රිච්ඩ් විජෙවර්ධන) (23 February 1886 – 13 June 1950) was a Sri Lankan press baron who was involved in the Sri Lankan independence movement. A successful entrepreneur ...

, was a

press baron A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...

who was a leader in the

Sri Lankan independence movement The Sri Lankan independence movement was a peaceful political movement which was aimed at achieving independence and self-rule for the country of Sri Lanka, then British Ceylon, from the British Empire. The switch of powers was generally kno ...

. A successful entrepreneur, he established

Lake House Lake House is an Elizabethan architecture, Elizabethan English country house, country house dating from 1578, in Wilsford cum Lake in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles north of Salisbury. It is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Gra ...

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

, the current President of Sri Lanka.

Education

Wijewardene completed his primary and secondary education at St. Thomas' Preparatory School. He then pursued further studies at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

in the United Kingdom, where he earned a BA in

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

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

. He lost his seat in parliament in 2020 general elections. He was elected as deputy leader of the UNP on 14th September 2020 and he is tipped to be the next Leader of the United National Party.Ruwan Wijewardene elected Deputy Leader of UNP
Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Retrieved on 14 September 2020.

References

External links

Wijewardene AncestrySri Lanka Parliament profileSri Lanka blasts: Lanka's Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene talks to WION
''

WION WION (World is One News) is an Indian multinational English language news channel headquartered in New Delhi. It is owned by the Essel Group and is part of the Zee Media network of channels. The channel covers global news and current affairs. ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wijewardene, Ruwan 1975 births Living people Sri Lankan Buddhists United National Party politicians Alumni of the University of Sussex Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Alumni of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya State ministers of Sri Lanka Ruwan Sinhalese politicians Ruwan

Early life

Education

Political career

See also

References

External links