Published On: December 28, 2016
Former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake passed away yesterday at the age of 83 at a private Hospital in Colombo.
His remains are scheduled to be kept at the Parliament Complex from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. today (28) fOr MPs to pay their last respects.
Earlier he was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital on Dec. 21.
President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered that the former PM’s funeral be held with full state honors.
At the time of his demise Wickemanayake was working as a senior adviser to the President.
“Veteran Politician Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was loved by his people for many decades. My condolences are with his loved ones and followers,” President Maithripala Sirisena wrote on Twitter.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also tweeted his condolences: “Deeply saddened by the death of former Sri Lankan PM and veteran politician Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. My condolences to his family.”
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed Prime Minister by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Nov. 21 2005. He had earlier held the position of Prime Minister from August 2000 to December 2001, succeeding Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who resigned at the age of 84.
Wickremanayake entered politics in 1960 winning the Horana seat in the March General Election as a member of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP).
Later in 1970, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice and went on to be the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1977.
In the 1994 General Election, he was elected from the Kalutara District and was appointed as the Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries and the Leader of the House in President Chandrika Kumaranatunge’s Cabinet.
His son Vidura Wickremanayake is presently a member of parliament
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