Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
Sri Lankabhimanya Dingiri Banda Wijetunga was a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fourth President of Sri Lanka from 7 May 1993 to 12 November 1994, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 3 March 1989 to 7 May 1993, and Governor of North Western Province from 1988 to 1989. He was awarded Sri Lankabhimanya, Sri Lanka's highest civilian award in 1993 by president Ranasinghe Premadasa.
Early life and education
Wijetunga was born on 15 February 1916 to Wijethunga Mudiyanselage Delgahapitiya Arachchila and his wife Manamperi Mudiyanselage Palingumanike Manamperi, as the eldest child in a middle-class Kandyan Govigama Sinhala Buddhist family living on the outskirts of the then-Udunuwara parliamentary seat in the Kandy District of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Wijetunga completed his primary education at Waligalla Central College and transferred to St Andrew's College in Gampola shortly after.Early career
After completing his schooling, Wijetunga joined the Ceylon Police as a constable in 1939 and served in Borella, Fort and Maradana before leaving service in 1942. He subsequently served in the Co-operative Department as a Co-operative Inspector from 1947 to 1959.Political career
Wijetunga was closely associated with veteran politicians including George E. de Silva and A. Ratnayaka. Ratnayake, who was then Minister of Food and Co-operatives in the D. S. Senanayake cabinet, took Wijetunga in as his private secretary.Wijetunga joined the United National Party in 1946 and unsuccessfully contested the Kadugannawa electorate in the 1956 general election, the Yatinuwara electorate in the March 1960 general election and the Udunuwara electorate in the July 1960 general election. He entered parliament for the first time when he successfully contested the Udunuwara electorate in the 1965 general election.
He lost the Udunuwara electorate in 1970, but returned to parliament in the 1977 general election which saw a massive landslide for the UNP. Wijetunga was subsequently appointed as Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Jayewardene cabinet. Throughout Jayawardene's presidency, Wijetunga functioned in various ministerial capacities holding the portfolios of Posts and Telecommunication, Power, Highways and Agricultural Development.
He served briefly as the governor of North Western Province in 1988 before returning to parliamentary politics a few months later. In the 1989 general election, he secured the largest number of preferential votes in the Kandy District.
Premiership (1989–1993)
Wijetunga was surprisingly appointed as prime minister in 1989 by president Ranasinghe Premadasa. He also held the Ministries of Finance and Labour and Vocational Training in addition to being the state minister of defence in the Premadasa administration.Lalith Athulathmudali was shot dead in April 1993 while campaigning for the provincial council elections. The killing provoked widespread protests against the government and allegations were hurled at the president for complicity in the assassination. A week later, president Premadasa was also assassinated in Colombo at a May Day rally in a suicide bombing widely considered to be an act of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Wijetunga became acting president until parliament convened to elect a successor to the president Premadasa under the terms of the Constitution.
Wijetunga was unanimously elected by Parliament to complete the remainder of Premadasa's term and was sworn in as the third executive president of Sri Lanka on 7 May 1993.
Presidency (1993–1994)
Wijetunga appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as his prime minister, a close relative of former president Jayawardene. Wijetunga's presidency coincided with the rise of Chandrika Kumaratunga within the ranks of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main opposition party.Wijetunga did not believe that peace could be achieved by negotiating with the LTTE. The Eastern Province was liberated from the LTTE during his tenure except for Thoppigala.
After a decisive defeat in the Southern Provincial Council election in 1994, he dissolved parliament prematurely in June of that year. The UNP saw a major defeat to the SLFP-led People's Alliance in the 1994 general election and Wijetunga appointed Kumaratunga as prime minister. Even though under the constitution, Wijetunga was bestowed with wide powers, he chose not to exercise much authority, letting prime minister Kumaratunga manage the affairs of the country.
He decided not to contest the 1994 presidential election and appointed Lucky Jayawardena as the party organizer for his former electorate, Udunuwara. He relinquished office in November 1994 after Kumaratunga was elected president in a historic landslide.