Anuradha Neelendra Dullewe Wijeyeratne ( Sinhala: අනුරාධ නිලේන්ද්‍ර දූල්ලෑව විජයරත්න) (born 22 March 1962) (known as '' Anuradha Dullewe Wijeyeratne'') is a Sri Lankan politician and entrepreneur, He has served as the acting

Diyawadana Nilame Diyawadana Nilame is the office of the chief lay custodian of the Temple of the Tooth, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Formerly an office of the royal household, at present it is the trustee for the Temple of the Tooth as defined by the ''Buddhist Temporal ...

(Chief lay Custodian) of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy on several occasions for three decades appointed by the Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs with recommendation from Mahanayaka Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters of

Siam Nikaya The Siam (also Siyamopali and Siyam) Nikaya is a monastic order within Sri Lankan Buddhism, founded by Upali Thera of Siyam, on the initiatives taken by Weliwita Sri Saranankara thera to revive Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the mid 18th century. A ...

. He was a Provincial Councillor of the

Sabaragamuwa The Sabaragamuwa Province (, , ) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is the capital of the province. History The provinces of Sri Lanka were created by the British in the 19th century, but did not have any legal status until 198 ...

Provincial Council too. In March 2020, he was invited by the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

to contest the Parliamentary General Election 2020 and was appointed as the chief organizer for the Mawanella electorate. In 2020 general elections, Wijeyeratne ran unsuccessfully for the

Kegalle District Kegalle is a district in Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (pre ...

seat in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. He is ideologically positioned on the

right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

of the United National Party.

Early life

He was born on 22 March 1962 in

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...

to a prominent political family who had been in active politics in the country for nine decades since 1931. Anuradha is the third son of

Nissanka Wijeyeratne Deshamanya Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyeratne () (14 June 1924 – 7 January 2007), known as ''Nissanka Wijeyeratne'', was a Sri Lankan politician, civil service, civil servant, diplomat and English language poet. He was also the 17th Diyawadana ...

and Nita Wijeyeratne (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Dullewe) and has three brothers and a sister. They are Neranjan,

Mano Mano may refer to: People * Mano people, an ethnic group in Liberia * Mano (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Mano (Mozambican footballer), Celso Halilo de Abdul (born 1984) * Mano (Portuguese footballer), Luís Migu ...

, Lankesh and Nishangani. His father Nissanka and grandfather, Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne were prominent politicians who had become cabinet ministers. Wijeyeratne was educated at

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

, before moving to

Kingswood College, Kandy Kingswood College, Kandy () is a State school, public Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The school educates over 3,500 students from Primary education, primary to Secondary education, secondary le ...

and later D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo.

Political career

Wijeyeratne entered active politics in 1984 from

's Samavadhi Student Union and also served as member of the United National Party National Executive Committee. Later he contested the Provincial Council elections in 1988 and was elected to the

Provincial Council. He had also served as the

Public Relations Officer A public relations officer (PRO) or chief communications officer (CCO) or corporate communications officer is a C-suite level officer responsible for communications, public relations, and/or public affairs in an organization. Typically, the CCO o ...

, Ministry of Higher Education & coordinating secretary to the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. He was a member of Sri Lanka Government Delegation to the UNESCO 1979 Regional Conference in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland, member of the Sri Lankan Government Delegation in 1983 for the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Sri Lanka festival held in London, member of the Government Delegation for the 1983 International Peace Conference,

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

, Japan, a member of the Sri Lanka Government Delegation to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

1985 General Conference in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, member of Sri Lanka Government Delegation to

1987 General Conference in Paris, France and member of Sri Lanka Government Delegation to 1993 Asia Local government Conference in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, Japan. Wijeyeratne had also served as the Chairman of Dedigama Electorate Development Planning Committee.

Family

He is married to Dayanganie, daughter of Tudor Gunasekara (former minister and diplomat) and Chandra Gunasekara (''

'' Perera). Anuradha and Dayanganie have one daughter, Dr Yanushi Dullewe Wijeyeratne, Cardiology Specialty Registrar with

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. Sri Lanka born British Doctor brings glory to Sri Lanka
Lanka News Week (Sri Lanka), Retrieved 18 August 2022.

References

External links

The Wijeyeratne Ancestry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wijeyeratne, Anuradha Dullewe 1962 births Living people Sri Lankan Buddhists Anuradha Dullewe Politicians from Colombo Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of Kingswood College, Kandy Alumni of D. S. Senanayake College Sinhalese people Sri Lankan businesspeople United National Party politicians Members of the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Provincial councillors of Sri Lanka

Early life

Political career

Family

See also

References

External links