Who is Dinesh Gunawardena, a schoolmate of president Wickremesinghe and likely prime minister of Sri Lanka

ALL eyes were on Sri Lanka politics after the seasoned Ranil Wickremesinghe became the crisis-ravaged island-nation's president on Wednesday (20) and if political sources are to be believed, he is set to pick senior legislator Dinesh Gunawardena as the next prime minister who will succeed him in the post.

Wickremesinghe is set to make his cabinet appointments on Friday (22), a day after he was sworn in as the president amid mass protests that forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign earlier this month as the country is witnessing an unprecedented economic turmoil.

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Gunawardena, who was born on March 2, 1949, is just 22 days older than Wickremesinghe and was a schoolmate of the latter. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna or People's United Front (a left-wing political party) leader has been sworn in as the minister of public administration by the newly elected president.

He studied with Wickremesinghe at the Royal College in Colombo and also went to study in the Netherlands and the US. He also took part in student activism in the US, particularly in the anti-Vietnam protests. He also worked in New York once but returned to Sri Lanka after his father died in 1972.

Gunawardena has been a member of the Sri Lankan parliament since the 1980s and served in various ministries, including foreign and education, since 2000. He has also been the leader of the house in the Lankan parliament since 2020.

The septuagenarian cabinet minister is known to be a strong loyalist of Rajapaksa.

Sources said Wickremesinghe had informed Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of the Sri Lankan assembly, to propose a candidate for the post of the prime minister who will have the backing of both the ruling and opposition parties so that the goal of having an all-party government is reached.

Gunawardena is known to be a popular leader who enjoys wide support in the parliament. It has also been claimed that the former should become the acting prime minister by the virtue of the fact that he is the leader of the house and that the country's constitution allows the same.

Gunawardena, a widower, was married to Ramani Wathsala Kotelawela who died of an ailment in 1985. He has a son and daughter from the marriage.