Anura Bandaranaike, MP passes away

Anura Bandaranaike, MP, yesterday passed away at his official residence Visumpaya, after a prolonged illness.

The only son of two Prime Ministers, S.W.R.D and Sirimavo, Anura, a fiery orator in both Sinhala and English, first entered Parliament in 1977 as the second MP for Nuwara Eliya-Maskeliya by polling 48,778 votes. He came second to Gamini Dissanayake, who polled 65,903 votes while CWC leader S. Thondaman came a distant third with 35,743 votes.

During his political career, Anura switched sides on several occasions and held the post of the Speaker during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s two-year tenure as the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He held Higher Education portfolio during President D.B. Wijetunga’s administration.

During Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency, Anura held two ministries namely Investment Promotion, Enterprise Development and Industries and Tourism. He was rewarded with the Foreign Affairs portfolio during the tail end of the Kumaratunga’s administration. He once entered Parliament on the National List.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed him Tourism Minister and subsequent to the last Cabinet reshuffle, he was given the Ministry of National Heritage. Mr. Bandaranaike quit the ministry in the run up to his last crossover on December 19th. Although he planned to return to the ministry after meeting President Rajapaksa, his illness prevented him from doing so.

Born on February 15th, 1949, Anura was educated at the Royal College, Colombo (1956-66). From there he entered the University of London (1970-73) and obtained his BA.

Before contesting the multi-member Nuwara Eliya District at the 1977 General Elections, Anura had held several important positions in the party. Since entering the House in 1977 he had never lost an election though he abandoned Nuwara Eliya and set up base in the Gampaha District. At the last general election, he polled a staggering 198,444 votes and was placed second behind JVP’s Vijitha Herath.

In November, 1983, at the age of 34 he was elected the Opposition Leader. Anura held a rare record that of sitting in the same parliament with his mother who held the premiership twice (1960-65 and 1970-77) during her illustrious career.

Anura switched allegiance to the UNP when he last attended Parliament on December 19 last year at the third reading of the Budget. Subsequently, he pledged his loyalty to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, when the latter called on him at Visumpaya but poor health prevented him from returning to Parliament.


Sarana Gunawardene who polled 52,288 at the last General Election will fill the vacancy created by the death of the Gampaha District MP Anura Bandaranaike. Gunawardene (SLFP) contested on the UPFA ticket.