Anuradha Jayaratne

Educated at Trinity College, Kandy and Royal College, Colombo, Jayaratne gained an LL.B. from the University of Buckingham and completed law exams at the Sri Lanka Law College taking oaths as an Attorney at law in 2010. He thereafter gained an LL.M. from the University of Colombo.

After becoming a lawyer, Jayaratne went into active politics in 2010, working as a private secretary to his father, who was then the prime minister. In 2013, he ran for a seat in the Central Provincial Council and was successfully elected, earning the highest number of preferential votes. Despite this feat, Sarath Ekanayake was picked over Jayaratne for the post of Chief Minister.^[2][3][4][5]

Jayaratne contested the 2015 parliamentary elections and was elected to parliament from the Kandy District. In September 2015, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment by president Maithripala Sirisena. In August 2016, Jayaratne was appointed Chief Organizer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Ududumbara.^[6] He was re-elected in the 2020 parliamentary elections and was appointed State Minister of Rural irrigation and tanks development.^[7] Jayaratne was re-elected to parliament in 2024 as a member of the New Democratic Front led by former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, and was subsequently appointed as the parliamentary leader of the NDF.^[1]

• List of political families in Sri Lanka