Vidura Wickremanayake

Hon.
Vidura Wickremanayake
Hon. Vidura Wickremanayake
විදුර වික්‍රමනායක ; விதுர விக்கிரமநாயக்க
Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs
	In office; 20 May 2022 – 24 September 2024
President	Gotabaya Rajapaksa ; Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe ; Dinesh Gunawardena
Preceded by	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Succeeded by	Vijitha Herath
Minister of Labour
	In office; 18 April 2022 – 9 May 2022
President	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime Minister	Mahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded by	Nimal Siripala de Silva
Succeeded by	Manusha Nanayakkara
Member of Parliament; for Kalutara District
	In office; 2010 – 24 September 2024
Personal details
Born	11 July 1959 (age 65)
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Other political; affiliations	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
Relations	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (father)

Vidura Wickremanayake (born 11 July 1959) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs from 2022 to 2024.^[1] A Member of Parliament, he is the son of the former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

Early life and education

Born to Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and Kusum Wickremanayake, he was educated at Royal College, Colombo and gained a BSc in Agriculture in the Philippines.^[2]

Wickremanayake was elected to parliament from Kalutara from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the 2015 parliamentary election and was appointed State Minister of Agriculture. He was re-elected in the 2020 parliamentary election from the Kalutara electorate with 147,958 preferential votes and was appointed State Minister of National Heritage, Rural Arts.^[3] Following the mass resignation of the Sri Lankan cabinet in the wake of the 2022 Sri Lankan protests, he was appointed as the Minister of Labour by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 18 April 2022.^[4]^[5] He left office following the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and thereby the whole government. He was appointed to the position of Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs in the new Sri Lankan Cabinet by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 20 May 2022.