New Youth and Sports Minister Thenuka Vidanagamage (on left) receives new Cabinet portfolio, Minister of Youth and Sports, from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo yesterday (18). In the centre is Secretary to the President, Gamini Senarath[/caption]
The new 17-member cabinet of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government which was sworn in yesterday (18) has a new Youth and Sports Minister - Thenuka Vidanagamage.
Vidanagamage entered parliament from Mahiyanganaya in the Badulla district in the 2020 General Election as the third-highest receiver of preferential votes - 68,338 - while representing the main ruling party now, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
He was formerly the deputy to the outgoing Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, yet held the portfolio which was named as State Minister of Rural and School Sports Infrastructure Improvement since August 2020.
Following the massive public protest near President Rajapaksa’s private residence in Mirihana, Colombo on 31 March - which called for immediate resignation of the President - Namal Rajapaksa resigned from his ministerial position on 3 April as the entire Cabinet too stepped down en masse on the same day.
“I accepted a request from the President and took over this Cabinet portfolio. Our main intention is to overcome the existing challenges faced by the country. There should be a strong Cabinet when we negotiate with the IMF (International Monetary Fund),” Vidanagamage said yesterday after assuming duty in his new position.
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Vidanagamage assumes his duties at the Sports Ministry in Colombo yesterday (18). Second from right is the Sports Ministry Secretary Anuradha Wijekoon[/caption]
“I need to remember that former Minister Namal Rajapaksa was doing a lot of work to uplift sports. I take over this ministry at such a juncture. Our main intention is to continue with those work, with the help of the Ministry Secretary (Anuradha Wijekoon) and create talented sportsmen and women who can win medals for us at the international stage in future,” he added.
“The crisis that we are facing today is not something which we had expected. A lot of youngsters have come to the streets today and protest against the Government. Today the President said that all those youngsters are ones who love this country very much. We have to put in place a strategy that will fulfil the requirements of those young people.
“Therefore I invite all youngsters to help the Government at this moment to save our country from the present crisis.”