Thalatha Athukorale has been named as the new General Secretary of the United National Party (UNP) by the party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Ms Athukorale entered politics in 2004, following the demise of her brother Gamini Athukorale, a powerful figure the UNP who held cabinet positions and served as the Assistant Leader of the Party.
After Mr Athukorale’s sudden death in 2001, his sister Thalatha was invited by the party and she went on to contest the 2004 Parliamentary election in 2004 successfully. She re-entered Parliament in 2010, 2015 and 2020.
She entered Parliament in 2020 from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, but stepped down before the Parliamentary term ended last year to re-join the UNP. However she did not contest the last Parliamentary election.
Born in 1963, Ms Athukorale was appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the Yaha Palana Government in 2015 January taking over as the Minister of Foreign Employment and two years later she was entrusted with the portfolio of Justice.
The UNP General Secretary position was earlier held by former Minister Range Bandara.
With the appointment of Ms Athukorale the re-oranisation activities of the party is to be launched with several of the party members calling that they should contest the upcoming local council and Provincial elections under the UNP, instead of alliances.
A Sri Lankan wanted for financial frauds and under a red notice was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport along with his wife and child as they were returning from India, Police said.
My memory takes me back to 1979, to a moment etched in time when a strikingly tall and impeccably dressed military officer, a Master in charge of Cadeting at Prince of Wales College commanding a guard of honour presented to President J.R. Jayawardene by the cadets of 3CCC, consisted of Ananda, Nalanda and Prince of Wales Cadet platoons at the Prince of Wales College grounds.
An American national, who had been staying in Sri Lanka for nearly ten months without a valid visa while using a Sinhala name under his American passport, was arrested by the Tourist Police of the Kandy.
The Government is considering abolishing the Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff (OCDS) when the term of office of its incumbent General Shavendra Silva ends on December 31.
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