Ranil brings back a Rajapaksa - Shasheendra given portfolio

by Rukshana
Feb 1, 2024

(Photo courtesy: President Media Unit)

The son of Chamal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former speaker and minister, Shasheendra has been appointed by Ranil Wickremesinghe as the State Minister for Irrigation and Water Resources Management, in a move that sees a member of the Rajapaksa family back in government, after the former president was ousted by protests in 2022.

This portfolio fell vacant after the death of Sanath Nishantha. The President’s Media Division said Rajapaksa took oath as the new State Minister of Irrigation and Water Supply in the presence of Wickremesinghe yesterday (31), at the Presidential Secretariat.

Before this appointment, Rajapaksa was a Uva Province Chief Minister from 2009 to 2015. After his tenure ended, he was also summoned by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into large-scale Corruption concerning an alleged distribution of state-owned lands in Mahiyangana.

Shasheendra is the first member of Wickremesinghe’s cabinet of ministers hailing from the Rajapaksa family. His uncles are former presidents Mahinda and Gotabaya.

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