Karu Jayasuriya

[5] Jayasuriya became active in politics in late 1995 and he became party chairman in 1995 at the request of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Karu Jayasuriya won the election and became the Mayor of Colombo gaining much popularity and notability in the process, having been initially from a non-political background.

[5] Following his success as Mayor of Colombo, Jayasuriya contested the 1999 provincial council elections as the UNP nominee and Chief Ministerial candidate of the Western Province, which he lost narrowly.

[5] At that election, he created a new precedent by refusing to publish posters, saying it promoted violence and polluted the city he worked hard to keep clean.

Having inherited a challenging ministry he ensured a continued power supply and commenced reforms of the heavily indebted Electricity Board.

With President Chandrika Kumaratunga's abrupt dissolution of parliament in April 2004, and the UNP's defeat at the ensuing election, he once again returned to the front benches of the Opposition.

Jayasuriya and his supporters insisted on taking a step further and joining the government formally by accepting ministerial office, which was strongly opposed by Wickremesinghe.

[8] In January 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Jayasuriya as Minister of Public Administration, Democratic Rule and Buddha Sasana after his victory in the presidential election.

His name was proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and seconded by Nimal Siripala De Silva.