{"id":144317,"date":"2024-09-22T03:40:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T10:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=144317"},"modified":"2024-09-22T03:40:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T10:40:54","slug":"5-facts-about-anura-kumara-dissanayake-man-likely-to-become-sri-lanka-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/09\/22\/5-facts-about-anura-kumara-dissanayake-man-likely-to-become-sri-lanka-president\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Facts About Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Man Likely To Become Sri Lanka President"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\" data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">World News<\/a>Edited by\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/topic\/ndtv-news-desk\">NDTV News Desk<\/a>Updated: September 22, 2024 2:35 pm IST<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Anura Kumara Dissanayake became involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during his school years and fully engaged in politics during the 1987-1989 JVP insurrection.\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2024-09\/1vafllg8_anura-kumara-dissanayake_625x300_22_September_24.jpeg\" alt=\"5 Facts About Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Man Likely To Become Sri Lanka President\" title=\"5 Facts About Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Man Likely To Become Sri Lanka President\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, in Thambuththegama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka&#8217;s Marxist-leaning leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has taken a commanding&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/sri-lankas-marxist-politician-anura-kumara-dissanayake-leads-presidential-elections-vote-6621214%C2%A0\">lead in the presidential election<\/a>, winning approximately 53 per cent of the counted votes. According to Sri Lanka&#8217;s Election Commission, Dissanayake, contesting for the National People&#8217;s Power alliance, surpassed opposition leader Sajith Premadasa (22 per cent) and President Ranil Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here are some facts about Anura Kumara Dissanayake:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, in Thambuththegama, Sri Lanka. His father was a labourer, and his mother was a housewife. He attended local schools and was the first from his college to get admission into University.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dissanayake became involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during his school years and fully engaged in politics during the 1987-1989 JVP insurrection. He initially studied at the University of Peradeniya but left due to threats, later graduating from the University of Kelaniya in 1995 with a degree in physical science.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anura Kumara Dissanayake rose through the ranks of the JVP, becoming a key figure in the party&#8217;s leadership. In 1995, he was appointed National Organiser of the Socialist Students Association and joined the JVP&#8217;s Central Working Committee. By 1998, he secured a prominent position in the JVP Politburo. During this time, the JVP re-entered mainstream politics under Somawansa Amarasinghe and initially supported Chandrika Kumaratunga&#8217;s government, though they soon became vocal critics of her administration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2004, Dissanayake became a cabinet minister in President Chandrika Kumaratunga&#8217;s government, handling agriculture, livestock, land, and irrigation. However, in 2005, he and other JVP ministers resigned in protest against a joint agreement between the government and the LTTE for tsunami relief coordination.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dissanayake became the JVP&#8217;s leader in 2014, succeeding Somawansa Amarasinghe, and ran as the JVP&#8217;s presidential candidate in 2019, finishing third with 3 per cent of the votes. He announced another presidential bid for the 2024 elections under the National People&#8217;s Power (NPP). Known for his critical stance on Sri Lanka&#8217;s economic policies, Dissanayake has opposed IMF conditions, advocating for renegotiations to reduce taxes like the Pay-As-You-Earn tax and eliminate VAT on essential items. His policies focus on increasing social welfare and supporting businesses through targeted taxation reforms.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World NewsEdited by\u00a0NDTV News DeskUpdated: September 22, 2024 2:35 pm IST Anura Kumara Dissanayake became involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during his school years and fully engaged in politics during the 1987-1989 JVP insurrection.\u00a0 Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, in Thambuththegama. Sri Lanka&#8217;s Marxist-leaning leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}