Dinesh Gunawardena, a veteran politician and a close ally of the Rajapaksa family was appointed on Friday as Sri Lanka’s prime minister by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, a day after he was himself sworn into the top post. This is the first appointment made by President Wickremesinghe on his first day in office. A stalwart of Sri Lankan politics, Gunawardena, 73, earlier served as the foreign minister and education minister. He was appointed as Home Minister in April by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The prime minister’s post fell vacant after Wickremesinghe, 73, was on Thursday sworn in as the country’s eighth president after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and then resigned as president. A schoolmate of President Wickremesinghe, Gunawardena, has held various Cabinet posts in the past.