Anura_Kumara_Dissanayaka
Anura Kumara Dissanayake
Sri Lankan politician (born 1968)
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP (Sinhala: අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක, Tamil: அநுர குமார திசாநாயக்க; born 24 November 1968), also known by his initials AKD, is a Sri Lankan socialist politician. He is a Member of Parliament from the Colombo District, the current party leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (from 2014) and the National People's Power (from 2019). A former presidential candidate in 2019, he has been named as the National People's Power presidential candidate for the 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election.
Dissanayake has been involved with the JVP since his school days and was active in student politics in university before joining the JVP politburo in 1995. He has been a member of parliament since September 2000, having been either appointed from the national list or elected, Dissanayake served as the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation from 2004 to 2005 and Chief Opposition Whip from 2015 to 2018. He was named the leader of JVP at the 7th National Convention of the party, held on 2 February 2014.[1]