Thenahandi Wijayapala Hector Mendis (16 December 1928 – 1 September 2012) was 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 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� ...

Life and career

Mendis was born on 16 December 1928, third child of the former Mayor of Negombo, Mudliyar David Mendis and Magilin. He began his political career by joining

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), ...

Youth League of Negombo at age 19 and was elected the Mayor of Negombo in 1954. He was married to Nanda de Silva for 59 years. They had three daughters and one son, Manouri, Davindra, Dilupa and Nadika. In 1960 he entered Parliament from the Katana electorate as a United National Party candidate, and was re-elected in 1965 when he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works, Post and Telecommunications. Except for a brief period after the defeat at the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

general election he represented the seat until 1989. After the landslide victory by the

in the 1977 general election, he was appointed Minister of Textile Industries in 1977 and in 1989 he was Minister of Transport and Highways. In 1993 after the assassination of President

Premadasa Premadasa is a Sinhalese name that may refer to the following people: ;Surname *Hema Premadasa (born 1935), Sri Lankan politician and former First Lady of Sri Lanka *Ranasinghe Premadasa (1924–1993), Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka *Sa ...

and

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 ...

became Prime Minister, he was appointed Leader of the House. Mendis became the Chief Opposition Whip after the 1994 parliamentary election until 1998 when he joined the People's Alliance Government with the

alternative group in opposition to the

leadership. He lost his seat in 2001. Wijayapala Mendis died on 1 September 2012, age 83.

References

External links

Appreciations

Wijayapala Mendis passes away

Mendis, Thenahndi Wijayapala Hector

* ttp://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=68420 WIJYAPALA MENDIS - 84th Birthday Remembrance
Mendis, Thenahndi Wijayapala Hector
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendis, Wijayapala 1928 births 2012 deaths Mayors of Negombo Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 11th Parliament of Sri Lanka Parliamentary secretaries of Ceylon People from Colombo People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan Buddhists Transport ministers of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians