Akandhan Velusami Radhakrishnan (; born 1 August 1952) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n politician and state minister. He is the leader of the

Up-Country People's Front The Up-Country People's Front is a political party in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, sou ...

(UCPF), a member of the

Tamil Progressive Alliance The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPF; ''Tamiḻ Muṟpōkku Kūṭṭaṇi'') is a Sri Lankan political alliance. It was formed in 2015 by the Democratic People's Front (DPF), National Union of Workers (NUW) and the Up-Country People's Front (UCP ...

(TPA) and

United National Front for Good Governance The United National Front (UNF) (), later the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) ( ''Eksath Yahapalana Jathika Peramuna''; ), was a political alliance in Sri Lanka led by the United National Party. The UNF was the governing party ...

(UNFGG).

Early life and family

Radhakrishnan was born on 1 August 10.1952 He was educated at Holy Trinity College, Nuwara Eliya,

St. Peter's College, Colombo St. Peter's College (, ) is a Roman Catholic boys-only primary to secondary (inclusive) school in the Bambalapitiya zone of Colombo, Sri Lanka, founded in 1922. In 1919, just after the end of World War I, Fr. M. J. Le Goc, Rector of St Joseph' ...

and

St. Joseph's College, Colombo St. Joseph's College is a selective-entry Roman Catholic school in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1896 by French Missionaries led by Rev. Father Christophe Ernest Bonjean. The college has over 4,000 enrolled students with a staff of over 450 as o ...

. He is married and has four children.

Career

Radhakrishnan was elected to Nuwara Eliya Divisional Council and became its chairman in 1991. He contested the 1999 provincial council election as one of the Indian Origin People's Front's candidates in

Nuwara Eliya District Nuwara Eliya District (; ) is a district in Central Province, Sri Lanka, centered on the tourist city of Nuwara Eliya. Demographics According to the 2001 census of Sri Lanka, population of Nuwara Eliya district is 703,610, of which 50.5 ...

and was elected to the Central Provincial Council (CPC). He was Minister of Culture and Tamil Education. He contested the 2004 provincial council election as one of the United National Front's (UNF) candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was re-elected to the CPC. In February 2005 he was appointed Minister of Tamil Education (other than Muslim Schools) Industries, Estate Infrastructure Facilities, Hindu Cultural Affairs, Youth Affairs and Sports. He was re-elected at the 2009 provincial council election, this times as a

United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA; ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ) was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004 and dissolved by former Sri Lankan President Ma ...

(UPFA) candidate. In March 2009 he was appointed Minister of Industries, Sports, Women Affairs, Rural Development, Estate Infrastructure Facilities Development, Hindu Cultural Affairs, Education (Tamil) and Youth Affairs. Radhakrishnan contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the UPFA's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was elected to

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 ...

. On 11 September 2010 Radhakrishnan left the

Ceylon Workers' Congress The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) (; ''Lanka Kamkaru Kongrasaya'') is a political party in Sri Lanka that has traditionally represented Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin working in the plantation sector of the economy. __TOC__ History The ...

to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

MP supporting UPFA. He joined the

as its political leader on 7 October 2010. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Botanical Gardens and Public Recreation on 9 October 2014. Radhakrishnan resigned from the UPFA government on 10 December 2014 to support common opposition candidate

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

at the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. After the election newly elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Sirisena rewarded Radhakrishnan by appointing him State Minister of Education. Radhakrishnan was one of the

's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District at the 2015 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. After the election he was re-appointed State Minister of Education. Radhakrishnan was elected leader of the UCPF on 6 September 2015.

Electoral history

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Radhakrishnan, Velusami 1952 births Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo Alumni of St. Peter's College, Colombo Ceylon Workers' Congress politicians Culture ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Deputy ministers of Sri Lanka Education ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Living people Local authority councillors of Sri Lanka Tamil politicians Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 17th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the Central Provincial Council People from Central Province, Sri Lanka Sports ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Sri Lankan Hindus State ministers of Sri Lanka Up-Country People's Front politicians United People's Freedom Alliance politicians Samagi Jana Balawegaya politicians Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka