Born to a wealthy business family from the Udalamatta village nearGalle in the south of Ceylon, on 3 January 1939. His father Francis Nanayakkara was a successful businessmen with ventures in wholesale trade, transport and plantations. His mother was Irene Elizabeth Wijesekara Dissanayake. He had four brothers and four sisters which includedYasapalitha Nanayakkara andHemakumara Nanayakkara. Receiving his secondary education atRichmond College, Galle he was of contemporary ofMahinda Rajapaksa. Nanayakkara's family were strong supporters of theUnited National Party, however he was converted to socialism byTissa Vitharana. He entered theCeylon Law College, qualifying as anproctor and started his legal practice.[1][2]
Shortly before the1994 parliamentary election Nanayakkara left the NSSP and rejoined the LSSP, one of the constituent parties of thePeople's Alliance (PA), an alliance of opposition parties. He was chosen as one of the PA's parliamentary candidates for Ratnapura District and duly elected.[9] Later Nanayakkara became critical ofPresident Kumaratunga's policies, such asprivatisation and the handling of thecivil war.[10] He was suspended from the LSSP in April 1999.[11][12] A few days later Nanayakkara crossed over to the opposition in parliament.[13]
Nanayakkara then formed a new party called theLeft & Democratic Alliance and stood as its candidate, against President Kumaratunga, at the1999 presidential election. He came seventh after receiving 23,668 votes (0.28%).[14]
TheLeft & Democratic Alliance was later renamed theDemocratic Left Front (DLF). It joined theUnited People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the successor to the PA. Nanayakkara was chosen as the UPFA's mayoral candidate forColombo at the 2006 local government elections. He was elected to theColombo Municipal Council but the UPFA failed to gain control of the council. Nanayakkara became the leader of the opposition on the council.
Nanayakkara was chosen as one of the UPFA's parliamentary candidates for Ratnapura District at the2010 parliamentary election. He was duly elected.[15]
Nanayakkara was appointed the minister of Water supply in 2020 but was removed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He then cross to the opposition.
In a heated debate in the Parliament Vasudeva shouted at Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe in foul language and called him 'Pakaya' which went viral over the internet. In a media interview, the prime minister called him ‘dried pumpkin’ when asked about the incident. Vasudeva later claimed that his language was unintentional but refused to apologise.[16]
Again in 2017 Vasudeva used profane language and after government MPHarsha de Silva advised him to mind his language Vasudeva began insulting the PM, IGP, Attorney General and the Bribery Department claiming everything is under the Prime minister's buttocks which led to government ministers questioning if he was under Mahinda Rajapaksa's buttocks for which he replied that, "That was a blessing. Being under Mahinda’s buttocks was a great blessing.”[17]
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