Tripti Nath/New Delhi

Presidents and Prime Ministers come and go. The question uppermost in the minds of citizens in crisis ridden Sri Lanka is whether the new acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the 18 member cabinet of the new Prime Minister Dinesh Chandra Gunawardena, will save the nation. They are hoping that the new political dispensation pulls the country out of crisis.

In a telephonic conversation with this correspondent over the phone from Colombo, a senior Sri Lankan journalist said, "Citizens in Sri Lanka are keeping a close watch on the fast-paced political developments. There is complete unrest, chaos and robbery. You name it. We had no petrol for four months. My husband stood in the queue for almost four days to get the car tank filled and when he wanted to drive, he found that the fuel had been stolen. This is the state of affairs. We are hoping things will improve.''

Sri Lanka witnessed mass anti- government protests which began in March 2022. On July 13, the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka following mass protests over the island’s economic crisis. He handed over the reins of the country to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed him as acting President. The government has been criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy, which led to economic crisis involving severe inflation, daily blackouts, and a shortage of fuel, domestic gas, and other essential goods. In the prevailing situation, Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena who took oath on Friday has a mammoth task before him. So does his class mate and acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe who appointed him after being sworn in as the eighth President of Sri Lanka on Thursday.

A country of 22 million people, Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis from the time it gained independence from the U.K. in 1948.

At the swearing-in ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office on Flower Road in Colombo on Friday,  Dinesh Gunawardena was entrusted the portfolio of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and local government.

Gunawardena is the leader of the left-wing Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a constituent party of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. The MEP was founded in 1959 by his father Philip Gunawardena and PH William de Silva, on the basis of Gunawardena's previous party.

This lawmaker has been pickled in politics as he comes from a prominent political family. His connection with the former Prime Minister and now President Ranil Wickremesinghe goes back to Royal College Colombo where the two were classmates. He has for long been a political ally of the Rajapaksa family.

The 73 year-old Prime Minister has held coveted portfolios. He has served as the leader of the House in the Parliament in Sri Lanka. he has also served as Foreign Minister. Education Minister and Home Minister. In April, he was appointed by the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Home Minister. He is known to be outspoken and completed his studies in the United States and the Netherlands.

Gunawardena began his political career in 1983 after winning the Maharagama electoral district by-election as the MEP candidate. Seventeen years later, he won the parliamentary elections and was allotted the cabinet berth as the Transport Minister. His father Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardema was a Lankan Marxist politician who was at the centre of the anti imperialist and anti colonial campaign and played a key role in India’s freedom struggle.

Don Philip Gunawardena was known as the father of socialism in Sri Lanka. His mother Kusumasiri Gunawardena was a feminist, politician and the second woman to be elected as member of Parliament in Sri Lanka. His son Yadamini Narodhama Rupasinghe Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament.

The new Prime Minister’s eldest brother- the late Indika Gunawardena was a Cabinet minister, the elder brother Prasanna Gunawardena was the Mayor of Colombo between 2002 and 2006 and his younger brother Gitanjana Gunawardena was also a member of Parliament and a deputy minister.

Experts say that the new Prime Minister's clean image and four decades of experience in public life is expected to contribute to stability in a country that has been facing months of protest.