Nilenthi Nimal Siripala de Silva (born 6 September 1944) is a Sri Lankan politician currently serving as the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation[1] and one of the two acting chairmen of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party alongside Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

[2] He served as the Leader of the Opposition for a few months in 2015, and has served in several other ministerial posts: he is the former Cabinet Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka, former Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and former Leader of the House.

On 4 July 1996, De Silva escaped with injuries in an attempted assassination by a LTTE female suicide bomber at the Stanley Road in Jaffna.

This incident took place minutes after the Minister declared open a branch of Building Materials Corporation (BMC) in Jaffna.

Brigadier Ananda Hamangoda (Jaffna Sector Commander), Ranjith Godamuna (Chairman, Lanka Cement) and 21 others were killed with more than 50 injured in the explosion.