[citation needed] He was the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Youth Organisation and a member of the Wayamba provincial council from 1993 to 1998.
[4] Jayaratne was then appointed Deputy Speaker of Parliament on 8 July 2008, and held the position for three terms until 22 November 2010, through his re-election in 2010.
[6] He was then appointed State Minister for Provincial Councils and Local Government, a position he resigned from at the end of December 2016 [7][8] Jayaratne has been the subject of several investigations for corruption.
In October 2015, he was summoned to appear before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into serious acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power in an investigation into alleged financial fraud at SriLankan Catering, the catering arm of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines.
[9] In 2017, the commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption filed charges with the Colombo Chief Magistrate Court against Jayaratne, citing abuse of power and -state funds through the unlawful appointment of his private secretary, B. Dayawansha, as an officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka and providing him with a salary and benefits using state funds.