In 2005 he was appointed Minister of Highways & Road Development, served as the chief government whip of the parliament and was a close associate of the President.

66/95 and 67/95 was filed against Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle(the then Deputy Minister of Planning, Ethnic Affairs and National Integration) as the first respondent by the members of the United Airport Taxi Services Society Ltd, for engaging armed thugs and preventing the petitioners from entering the airport in pursuance of their occupation.

The judgement written by justice Wijetunga indicated, inter alia, that since the violation resulted from the first respondent's instigation, he(Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle) was directed to pay Rs.

Addressing the media the minister said there was no need for the Prime Minister to express regret over the move and insisted that all 300 Tamils were sent to Vavuniya after getting their 'verbal consent' in Colombo and subsequently written consent in Vavuniya [2][3] In August 2007 he launched a scathing attack against United Nation's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes terming him as a "terrorist who takes bribes from the LTTE."

When his remarks were condemned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon he declared that "I don’t give a damn about what this UN boss has to tell me or Sri Lanka.

[4] He was killed on 6 April 2008 along with 14 others[3] by an alleged suicide bomber, who exploded himself at the start of a marathon race which was part of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration in Weliveriya town.