Politician
Devananda and the EPDP entered politics in 1994 when it contested the 1994 parliamentary election as an independent group in Jaffna District. Most of the district was under Tamil Tiger control and so did not vote, allowing the EPDP win nine parliamentary seats with just 10,744 votes, of which 9,944 votes came from the EPDP controlled Jafna islands. Devananda was elected with just 2,091 preference votes. Devananda has been re-elected to Parliament in all subsequent elections.
The EPDP became an ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her People's Alliance (PA) government. In October 2000 Kumaratunga appointed Devananda as Minister of Development, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of the North, and Tamil Affairs, North and East. He lost his ministerial post following the change of government in December 2001 but was reappointed Minister of Agriculture, Marketing Development, Hindu Education Affairs, Tamil Language & Vocational Training Centres in North when the United People's Freedom Alliance, the successor to the PA, returned to power in April 2004. He was appointed Minister for Social Service and Social Welfare by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005. There are unproved allegations of corruption against Devananda.
Read more about this topic: Douglas Devananda
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