Ruwan Wijewardene | |
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| Deputy Leader of theUnited National Party | |
| Assumed office 14 September 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Sajith Premadasa |
| Member of Parliament forGampaha District | |
| In office 22 April 2010 – 3 March 2020 | |
| Majority | 157,932 Preferential Votes |
| State Minister of Defence | |
| In office 12 January 2015 – 17 November 2019 | |
| President | Maithripala Sirisena |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Non-cabinet Minister of Mass Media[1] | |
| In office 22 February 2019 – 17 November 2019 | |
| President | Maithripala Sirisena |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-08-04)4 August 1975 (age 50) |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | United National Party |
| Residence | Sri Lanka. |
| Alma mater | S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Colombo, Sri Lanka University of Sussex |
| Occupation | Politician |
Dinendra Ruwan Wijewardene (Sinhala: දිනේන්ද්ර රුවන් විජෙවර්ධන) (born 4 August 1975) is a Sri Lankan politician and served as the Senior advisor to then presidentRanil Wickremesinghe on Climate change. He was the former State Minister of Defence and former Mass Media non-cabinet Minister.[2] He was a formerMember of Parliament forGampaha District.[3] Also he is the Deputy Leader of theUnited National Party and chief organiser forKelaniya Electorate.[4][5]
Prior to entering parliament in 2010, he was a member of theWestern Provincial Council.[6] He was appointed as the acting minister of defence few times after 2019.[7][8]
Born to a political dynasty, he is the youngest son of Ranjani Senanayake and Ranjith Wijewardene (Chairman ofWijeya Newspapers). His maternal great-grandfather, Rt HonD.S Senanayake, was the first prime minister of Ceylon and his grand uncle,Dudley Senanayake, 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, was apress baron who was a leader in theSri Lankan independence movement. A successful entrepreneur, he establishedLake House newspapers and played a major role in the independence movement. Ruwan Wijewardene is a nephew of the first executive presidentJ.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka and the cousin ofRanil Wickremesinghe, the current President of Sri Lanka.[9][10]
Wijewardene completed his primary and secondary education atSt. Thomas' Preparatory School. He then pursued further studies at theUniversity of Sussex in the United Kingdom, where he earned aBA inPolitical science.
Wijewardene contested theWestern Provincial elections in 2009 and was a member of the Western Provincial Council until 2010. He stood forparliamentary elections 2010 and secured the highest number of preference votes fromGampaha District. He lost his seat in parliament in2020 general elections. He was elected as deputy leader of the UNP on 14 September 2020 and he is tipped to be the next Leader of the United National Party.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
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