Sri Lankan cricket legend Arjuna Ranatunga quits United National Party
Highlight
- Arjuna Ranatunga has resigned from the opposition United National Party.
- He said the UNP has not been able to revive and rebrand itself after the recent election defeat.
- Ranatunga joined UNP against family tradition.
Former Sri Lankan minister and veteran cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga has resigned from the opposition United National Party citing dissatisfaction with the organization’s functioning.
In a letter to UNP leader and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday, Ranatunga said the UNP had not managed to revive and rebrand itself after the recent election defeat, which led to his resignation.
The UNP, formed in 1946, suffered its worst electoral defeat in the last parliamentary election held in August 2020, where it failed to win a single seat.
The 57-year-old Ranatunga had held the post of minister in the previous UNP-led government between 2015 and 2019.
Ranatunga joined UNP against family tradition. His father Regi Ranatunga was a minister in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
After retiring from cricket in 2000, Ranatunga entered politics in 2001 as a member of the SLFP.
His younger brother Prasanna is the tourism minister in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government.
Ranatunga has frequently switched between political parties and administrative roles in Sri Lankan cricket since 2001.
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