Who is Sajith Premadasa?

Sajith Premadasa (55), Sri Lanka’s
leader of opposition, has expressed his desire to throw his hat in the
presidential ring as the island faces a deep economic crisis. Inflation, fuel
and food shortage are just a few of Sri Lanka’s many problems. Amid this, a
popular revolt managed to oust Gotabaya Rajapaksa from presidency and Premadasa
believes he can take the country out of this mess.

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Premadasa, speaking to the BBC,
defined Sri Lanka’s current crisis as one of confusion, uncertainty and total
anarchy. The leader of the SJB party, Premadasa said Sri Lanka needs, “consensus,
consultation, compromise and coming togetherness.”

Who is Sajith Premadasa?

Sajith Premadasa was born into
political royalty. His father, Ranasinghe Premadasa, was the President of Sri
Lanka from 1989 to 1993. Sajith began his education at St. Thomas’ Preparatory
School and then went to Mill Hill School before making his way to the London
School of Economics (LSE). It was when he was pursuing a postgraduate course at
the University of Maryland that news came of his father’s assassination.
Premadasa rushed back home and jumped into the political fray having joined the
United National Party (UNP).

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It was in the year 2000 that Sajith
Premadasa entered parliament. In 2001, he became the Deputy Minister of Health
under the premiership of Ranil Wickremasinghe, in 2001 and remained till 2004
under the government was dissolved.

After the 2015 Presidential
elections, Premadasa was appointed Minister of Housing and Samurdhi in the new
cabinet. His work as housing minister included several policies for lower and
middle-income groups.

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In 2019, Sajith Premadasa was the
presidential nominee for his party but lost the elections to Gotabaya
Rajapaksa. He became the Leader of Opposition and was thus given a seat as the
Member of Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka). Now, as Sri Lanka lives through an
extremely precarious situation, Sajith Premadasa seems keep to be the leader
who takes the island out of this mess.