Prime Minister
Wijetunga was surprisingly appointed Prime Minister in 1989 by President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Party heavyweights such as Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali were overlooked apparently because the President favoured a deputy who had no further political ambitions. He also held the Ministries of Finance and Labour and Vocational Training in addition to being the State Minister of Defence in the Premadasa administration.
As Prime Minister Wijetunga performed the role expected of him by the President to perfection, playing second fiddle to the charismatic Premadasa. Within the party however there was a simmering winter of discontent, as cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament found themselves powerless as the iron-fisted President used wide executive authority to centralize power to his office.
The former Prime Ministerial aspirants and arch rivals Dissanayake and Athulathmudali united to lead an abortive attempt to impeach the President. Both of them were expelled from the party and consequently lost their Parliamentary seats.
Athulathmudali was shot dead in April 1993 while campaigning for the Provincial Council elections. The killing provoked widespread protests against the government and allegations were hurled at the President for complicity in the assassination. A week later President Premadasa was also murdered in Colombo on May Day 1993 in a suicide bombing widely considered to be an act of the Tamil Tigers. Wijetunga became acting President until Parliament convened to elect a successor to the slain President under the terms of the Constitution.
Wijetunga was elected unanimously by Parliament to complete the remainder of Premadasa's term and was sworn in as the fourth executive President on 7 May 1993.
In a moving farewell speech to Parliament Wijetunga cited Shakespeare's oft-quoted line "Do not be afraid of greatness, Some men are born great, Some achieve greatness, And some have greatness thrust upon them."
Read more about this topic: Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
Famous quotes related to prime minister:
“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
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