Vasantha Senanayake (born 28 June 1973) 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 who was a member of the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

. He belongs to 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), ...

. He is a great grandson of

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

(Sri Lanka's "Father of the Nation") and cousin of

Ruwan Wijewardene Dinendra Ruwan Wijewardene ( Sinhala:දිනෙන්ද්‍ර රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) (known as ''Ruwan Wijewardene'') is a Sri Lankan politician and currently the Senior advisor to president (Ra ...

. Senanayake was appointed State Minister of

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

in the

led national government on May 31, 2017. He was the State Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management from 2015 to 2017. He was the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sports in the

100 days government. Senanayake served as acting Foreign Minister when the Minister

Ravi Karunanayake Ravindra Sandresh Karunanayake (born 19 February 1963) is a Sri Lankan politician. A former Member of Parliament for the Colombo District, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from May 2017 to August 2017, Minister of Finance from 2015 ...

resigned on 10 August 2017. Vasantha Senanayake as state minister foreign affairs developed a close friendship with Lord Naseby of the UK House of Lords and supported vociferously the English Peer's condemnation of the unfair characterization of the war and the Sri Lankan military. During the 2018 Sri Lanka constitutional crisis, Senanayake, a Member of Parliament elected on the United National Party's

Polonnaruwa District Polonnaruwa District ( si, පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කය; ta, பொலன்னறுவை மாவட்டம்) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of ...

ticket in 2015, switched his alliance on multiple occasions between the two political parties that were battling for power. Initially he pledged his support for

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

who appointed him as Minister of Tourism and Wildlife after controversially dismissing prime minister

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 ...

. Senanayake then returned his alliance to the

, announcing his resignation from his ministerial portfolio, but later supported Rajapaksa again. This turbulence which Senanayake faced in his second term in Parliament moving between the UNP, the party of his ancestors and the Rajapakse camp may be attributed to his dilemma. Which can be attributed to him of wanting to belong to the ‘Old UNP’ but fiercely attempting to resist and depose its present occupant and leader of four decades Ranil Wickremasinghe. Wickremasinghe remains in office today after leading the UNP to its worst ever defeat in which the party secured no elected seats and Wickremasinghe scrambled in on a single National List seat the party had secured. He went on to be appointed president of Sri Lanka following the peoples uprising and Gotabhaya Rajapaksha’s resignation in 2022. Senanayake suggested early in his parliamentary career that the imposition of an overly powerful executive presidency on a Westminster type parliament was likely to cause repercussions in Parliament's role, human rights and national policy and rule of law. He submitted a model constitution for the reflections of the select committee. In parliament he has been an active lobbyist against the alcohol and tobacco industries. He has been espousing the importance of transforming modern sri lanka in to a commercial trading hub giving emphasis to sri lanka’s geographical position. Senanayake also established strong contacts with many countries and world leaders during his tenure in the foreign ministry. Senanayake did not contest for election in 2020, and has been spending much of his time writing. His first published book 'Transcending Sita' has been well received.

References

External links

The Senanayake Ancestry
Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians United People's Freedom Alliance politicians 1973 births Living people Deputy ministers of Sri Lanka Wasantha Sinhalese politicians {{NorthCentralLK-politician-stub