Colombo, Jul 22: Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday (Jul 22), along with 17 other cabinet ministers. The Sri Lanka local media also highlighted the background of his father Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena who was at the centre of the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial campaign and had played a role in India's freedom struggle.
Dinesh Gunawardena, parliamentarian of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, took his Prime Ministerial oath in capital Colombo in the presence of other senior legislators. Along with Prime Ministership, Gunawardena has additional charge of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Council, and Local Government. Other ministers included; Douglas Devananda (Fisheries), Susil Premajayantha (Education), Bandula Gunawardena (Transport & Highways, and Media), Keheliya Rambukwella (Health and Water Supply), Mahinda Amaraweera (Agriculture, Wildlife, and Forest Conservations), Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (Justice, Prisons, and Constitutional Reforms), Harin Fernando (Tourism and Lands), Ramesh Pathirana (Plantations and Industries), Prasanna Ranatunga (Urban Development and Housing), and Ali Sabry (External Affairs).
Vidura Wickramanayake (Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs), Kanchana Wijesekera (Power and Energy), Naseer Ahamed (Environment), Roshan Ranasinghe (Sports and Youth Affairs, and Irrigation), Manusha Nanayakkara (Labour and Foreign Employment), Tiran Alles (Public Security) and Nalin Fernando (Trade, Commerce and Food Security) are the other ministers to be sworn in.
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Regarding the Indian connect of Gunawardena the Sri Lankan media reported that, In London, the late Philip Gunawardena, present PM's father, met with Jomo Kenyatta and Jawaharlal Nehru and also worked with Krishna Menon for the Indian League. Philip Gunawardena also associated with Jayaprakash Narayan. In 1942, he fled to India and participated in India's struggle for freedom, however, he was caught and imprisoned. Philip Gunawardena assumed the name Gurusamy and his wife, Kusuma, joined him there. Their oldest son Indika was born in India.